WHEN IS AN APP NOT AN APP?

Yes, this is another of the Ostrich Killer's tekky blather posts.  Every so often I get a bug up my behind about some aspect of technology, and just have to let others know what's what out there.  So - let's discuss what constitutes an "App."  You know - that thing a smart phone or tablet (such as iPad or many others) does when you touch one of those cute little icons on the screen.  You touch it, something happens.  They're called 'apps,' which is short for, I suppose, 'application.'

So when is an app not an app?  An application, to my admittedly curmudgeonish mind, is something a computer does when it is invoked / launched.  You're sitting at your PC right now, reading this.  You're running an app that is generically called a browser to do that.  The browser is resident on your PC.  You launch it on purpose.  

But what would happen if you weren't connected to the internet or a cell service?  The browser would launch, but it would return an error message saying, in effect, 'You dummy.  Hook up first.'  The application (browser) would run but show nothing else.

How to know if those cute little icons on your smart phone or tablet are apps?  Turn off the wifi.  Turn off the cell service.  Then try to launch the app.  If it still runs, it's a true application.  If it doesn't, it's just a hyperlink to a web page.

So when is an app not an app?  By now I hope you've come to the correct answer:  "When it's a hyperlink!"  Apps are resident, hyperlinked sites are not.  Put another way, an app that is nothing more than a hyperlink is no different than one of your browser's bookmarks.  But the gullible public has been sold the idea that they are somehow different, because they're cute and on the screen of the smart phone and / or tablet.  

Ah, marketing to the unwashed masses . . .  Your Ostrich Killer has done yet another public service.  You're welcome, and spread the word.