Yes, it is absurd. In fact, our SL app IS being deployed out of browser now, but it took a while to get the PO to this point, and I'm not sure she's altogether pleased with it. She agreed when one of our TAs convinced her that a SL app using client certificates would be more secure than running in browser.

I suppose what I can see as a good evolution is something akin to a browser that can run on any platform, but is designed for running applications. This would allow people to write applications that are easily accessible and rich in behavior. I guess I kind of hoped that plug ins would serve this need, as everyone already has a browser. The problem, of course, is that plug ins are all proprietary, and what we'd really need is a good, open standard that was built from the ground up for writing apps.