[dstorey]

It is quite scary how much one has to learn compared to the old days if you’re just starting off on the Web. I did a post a while ago [0] that features a lot of these. It’s a long list. The games industry went through something similar, where games devs used to be able to write games in their basement, but now have multi-billion dollar budgets.

The web is quite different from the games industry though,and just because the technology is there it doesn't mean you have to use it. We’ve had the power of SVG available to us for at least 5 years (except in IE), and few devs can develop using it (it's not that hard once you try, honest!).

The web is expanding to one of apps, where we can create native like experiences. That isn’t a bad thing. It means people can pick up and use web technologies to make apps when before they would have had to use C++ or Java or whatever. Just because people can write apps on the Web though, doesn't mean there will not still be the demand for web pages, based around pages, articles and content rather than the app model. Both will stand side by side for quite a while yet.

And back to games. They can be made using web tech now, and that along with mobile platforms, and online stores on games consoles and the like have breathed new life into the indie development scene. It seems it is now possible for a few people in their basement to make top selling games again. These is no reason why it can't stay the same for the web too.

Its always better that the capabilities are there for when developers need it, than not being available at all.

[0] http://dstorey.tumblr.com/post/10657722675/openwebstack