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Applications vs. Webapps

Tim Wright · 2014-05-04T17:43:33

Some background: currently working on an application at work, and it is a Java application. We're adding a bunch of stuff that just doesn't fit into the GUI very well. Creating reports, sending them to the server to run, displaying currently submitted reports, viewing the results, that kind of stuff. I spent all last week just trying to figure out how to get everything into the tab on the GUI. So far I have been unsuccessful. I think all these things, because they live on the server, should be in a webpage and not the application. My boss doesn't think so. Because there is no editor for creating the report on the web (and it would be too costly) then the report stuff should live with the app. OK. My questions: What is the difference between a webapp and an applications? I couldn't express my views very well, but I know that the web is better suited for some tasks than a web page. He argued that you can stick anything in an app that you can on a webpage, and it's easier, plus you don't need a server. I can't put my finger on why this wrong, but having done both webapps and applications, I know this isn't true. Anyone have a better way of expressing this so he'll understand? Or maybe I'm crazy, and he's right. Tell me why.