however, the sad thing about article is that it shows Seth does not understand software development. There is no people who make "desktop" vs "web" software. Mostly this is the same group of people: software developers, and we all are alike - only difference is the delivery platform.
And the specifics of the selected delivery platform does not provide any qualitative difference for code that runs on it. Basically: you can make crappy desktop apps, and crappy web apps. The address book does not become good magically, because it is rendered as HTML page.
To finalize my point, the default state of software is "crap". Anything else must be engineered on top of the underlying "crap". The "why my software does not do (blindingly obvious) thing X" articles are amusing (function as bug reports, or invent insightful features), but are orthogonal to actual development of software, unfortunately.
Software will continue to slowly evolve, there is no qualitative leap coming.
Second issue can be handled as an option: "all my appointments are in business hours."
Maybe Seth Godin wants that infamous paper clip back: "I see you are drafting a letter. Let me help..."