For readers looking for MS article , here is the link. Don't want to take spend your time with my thoughts:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn268593.aspx
For readers who are interested and have to time to read my thoughts and provide there 2 cent, read below.....
A lot of organizations are now looking forward to migrate their SharePoint Farm from previous version to SharePoint 2013. But as soon as they start the analysis they bump into multiple new terms, methodology and implementation practices.
One of them which is introduced in SharePoint 2013 in App Model. Well a similar a lean model was tested as "Sandbox Solution" in 2010 version but with least success. It had it's own pain points and developers ended up creating server side controls(Webparts/ User controls).
As word is moving towards cloud platform and concept of applications, SharePoint 2013 took similar route and is now offering App model. Actually it's a pretty smart move. Such framework aligns SharePoint technology in line with open technology which is very much prevalent in today's world wherein there are multiple ways of displaying data(well mobile phone are game changer in today's world) and secondly this approach also takes care of pain of maintenance by SharePoint admin team who were having hard time explaining why the infrastructure is not holding up and tends to break down frequently( Thanks to badly written code by development teams..).
So going to back to question of " do we really need to go app way or should be stick to the old way of coding and deploying in server" .
My take " Though it will take time to learn and implement apps for all the existing customization, it's still worth looking into and converting the most complex ones to SharePoint App, mainly the apps which have longer shelf life in organization"
Read and let me know your thoughts. I understand its not as straightforward and quick for make these changes.
I would like to know the apps you are working which might be a good contender. I am always open for discussion..
Enjoy ..the changing landscape of technology..