Years ago I was tasked with creating a specification for a new project. It was a moderately sized project and ran around 3 years.
So, a conversation happened early on that went a bit like this:
Me: so, what kind of software do you want
Client: we want it to be web-based so people can share the information
So, having come from a web-based development background I thought yay. I can spec this out and over 3 months we drafted the spec and even put together a user interface prototype using ASP.NET and SQL Server and the likes - this was largely before JQuery/JSON/Ajax based technology was used as well. Another thing I should probably mention is they wanted the web-based application to have 3D models. These days that is easy with the likes of SilverLight or even Java (ugh) and HTML 5 probably could do what was needed but 6 years ago not so much.
About 15-18 months later, one of the key people who was keen to get this system going was constantly critical of the UI. how boring it was, how it wasn't very consistent with <company-name here>'s products (it was...but let me come to that in a bit) and so on. When I asked what the problem was in an inquisitive and non-confrontational manner, they failed to answer and suggested we get our contracted design house to look and see if they could improve on it.
At this time, it came to light that another senior person and I had this conversation (not exact words but sort of the same)
Client: So, tell me again why again can we not have 3D models?
Me: 3D models are difficult to do in a web-based application
Client: I have World of Warcraft which is web-based and that has 3D models
Me: *face palms* World of Warcraft isn't web-based. it's an application
Client: But it runs on the web
Me: No, it runs over the internet. A web-based client runs inside your web browser, like internet explorer. A client application, like World of Warcraft, is installed and then uses a network connection to the internet to run.
Client: and the difference is...
So if a client does ask you for a web-based application, do make sure they do mean a web based application and not one that runs over the web. I almost cried that day. 18 months of work, complaints of appearance and it was because it was HTML based and not a client-server app.
