Until we get real high speed internet, 100 Mb or better, the web will not really come into it's own as a potential replacement for the desktop. Until I can get anything off the web as fast as off of my hard drive it's not happening. I love the web and and I love the desktop. Both have their strong and weak points.
I don't see raw speed as being the issue. Even when you edit a 500-slide powerpoint, all you need at any given time is to see the current slide. Same for word processing. Rather, I agree with the original poster that it's the APIs that are the weakest link. HTML and CSS are ugly APIs when you think of GUI development.
So cashing solves the problem? I think not. I changed my mind, switch to different project, Where are those images I forgot to catalog, I have Pandora open.
Hey, the Internet's broken. Cashing is not the answer.