About 6 months ago, I've seen a usability study of a downloadable app (P2P/Bittorrent app to download movies, music) and they tested in on 5 people. Users had to download the app, install it and then use the site to start the downloads. Out of 5 people, not a single person managed to complete the task because everyone was suspicious of installing anything.

The aversion to install anything and fear of viruses and spyware is absolutely amazing.

i understand the desired and potentially correct conclusion, but what can you really conclude with a sample size of 5 people?

We have a much larger sample at RescueTime.com and we're seeing this... But it's not too painful. Our conversion rates are pretty outstanding (20% or so of absolute uniques download our software).

It's all about credibility (a bit harder to establish with no-name p2p app).

Instead of "Would you?", I think the question should be, "Why would you?"

1) Performance. Which begs the question, "Does performance matter?" I think it does for Id, Blizzard, EA, etc., and not many others.

2) The need to access hardware, especially external devices.

3) A more straightforward business model, viz, "Buy my software for 20 dollars."

4) Avoiding the intrinsic hackery of the "Web Application". This problem is going away.

5) Security concerns on the part of the customer. Oddly, people are more worried about trojans stealing data than they are about trusting their data to XYZ corporation's web servers.

"This problem is going away."

What made Wayne Gretsky such a great hockey player? He didn't skate to where the puck WAS, he skated to where it was GOING TO BE.