I believe 2004 was a turning-point year for web-based applications, or weblications:
I have the feeling that we’ve turned a corner, and that more “only obvious in hindsight” web-based application tricks will be developed in the years to come — thereby solidifying The Web As A Platform and continuing the spread of The Web Way as more users become True Believers who won’t give up their web-based applications no matter how hard the “fat, rich client” camps try.
The future looks bright for webdev, in part thanks to Google, as Joyce pointed out…