Kind of as an experiment and part out of not wanting to reformat my diseased hard drive, I spent about 3 months last year booting from a minimal Linux and running Firefox (and a pdf viewer) as my only apps. I really didn't miss the desktop a whole lot. In the end, the only reason I run desktop apps today is to take some load off of the browser. I like Meebo more than GAIM but the really intensive javascript apps just use way too much memory in Firefox, especially when you have 12 hour Firefox sessions.
I'm looking forward to my future web-only existence... and I'll be first in line for the neuro-implant.