Twitter is a great new web app that aims to make the ubiquitous "What's Up?" question obsolete, or at least more easily accessible. In Twitter, status messages are entered as "tweets" in 140 characters or less. (If you haven't heard of Twitter, go check it out - my Twitter name is dmacdonald)

But in an age where web apps are supposed to be replacing desktop apps, Twitter works best on the desktop. Meet Twitterrific, by the Iconfactory. Twitterrific is a desktop application that interfaces with your Twitter account.

Why is Twitterrific good? In a nutshell:

• It notifies you of new tweets as they arrive
• It has a really simple but effective user interface
• It allows you to enter and reply to tweets very easily
• It fits into your workflow as an unobtrusive as a HUD-style window

Most of these advantages are simply impossible to compete with in a strictly browser-based interface. So sometimes you have to wonder why the app is not officially endorsed by Twitter. After using it for a prolonged period of time, the official web interface is pretty pathetic; I know I definitely wouldn't even consider using Twitter if a similar desktop app did not exist. Yes, Twitter will also send tweets to your IM handle, but that really is quite a bit of a hack. It's not as elegant, at least.

Web apps alone aren't always the answer. Twitterrific proves that sometimes a complimentary desktop app is the secret ingredient to something really wonderful.