Have you ever taken a look back, even for only a couple years, and seen how for the internet has come?  I like to do that every now and then with services I use regularly, including eBay. 

Back when I first started out on eBay (July 2003), they were a fairly well established auction and payment service, but was still in the very early stages of its development.  At the time, users were confined to their web browser, making it a bit of a chore to track auctions, list items, etc.  Over the past couple years, eBay has continued to develop and things have changed for the better as eBay has continued to improve their product.  First came eBay mobile, then came the eBay toolbar for Firefox, and now we even have an eBay optimized web browser.  The problem is, each of these still kept users confined to their web browser, and the limitations that go along with that.

Now it looks like eBay is set to take that last step that so many other companies are starting to take and move their way on to your computer’s desktop.  Their new desktop software, known simply as eBay desktop, is still in beta and runs on Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) technology. 

If you find you use eBay to make a lot of purchases, you are going to love this new creation.   Probably the most noticeable feature to me is the ability to track auctions in real time, which means you will get an actual countdown rather than needing to refresh the auction to see how much time is left.  

The irony is, with the exception of a few bugs that should be worked out while the software remains in beta, it actually seems to be much more useful than the actual eBay website!  Hopefully their recent site maintenance has something to do with improving their website to the quality of their desktop software.

[via GigaOM]