Even before the iPhone was available, people were complaining about its lack of an API for developing apps to run directly on the platform.  With the “Web 2.0″ movement already in full swing, I think the iPhone is helping to push the envelope just a little further.

I’ve seen clever implementations of web based remote desktop technology, but each required some type of ActiveX control or Java Applet.  Now take a look at WebVNC.  From the web site:

WebVNC is a modification of the VNC server. Where before the HTTP server in VNC would just serve a Java applet, now it serves an AJAX application that downloads the screen as a set of JPEG images. The application then checks back with the server to see which ones have changed, and reloads them. Input is just another message to the server.

The window list is done with Windows-specific functions, enumerating top-level windows and returning a list of their titles and positions. When you click one the VNC server activates the window and the AJAX app limits its window size to just the one window. 

I am going to try this out next week and see how it works.