These arguments have been made ad nasium, and there is a simple reason that they are wrong. Software, for the most part is about money, either making it or saving it, the jury is no longer out as to whether web apps save money or not, it is a forgone conclusion that even with all the cruft, web application development is far cheaper than delivering to multiple platforms. An argument could be made for a cross platform environment like AIR but the momentum is behind web apps. The reality is there is no wrong or right in development, it is what we the developers make it, and the majority of developers like web apps because they deliver on the promise to target multiple platforms with a single code base. Web apps being wrong is a very subjective statement, they are right for a great deal of value to investment arguments and in the end those are factored into decisions about what to target with development dollars.