"The vast majority of Web sites you visit are presumably open to
Internet access, but many companies have found that Intranet
development has its place. However, you can take this further--you
can develop perfectly functional Web applications that will never
send so much as a single packet over a network interface.
Experienced Web developers sometimes find themselves struggling to
learn a GUI toolkit when a simple CGI script would serve their
needs perfectly well.
"A local-only Web application is, if anything, much simpler than
one intended for general use. You can easily set browser
requirements, and server performance is very unlikely to be an
issue. Simple applications, using standard CGI form widgets and the
like, can be written in a fraction of the time required for
development of self-contained applications. Applications that are
built around forms or data manipulation are often excellent
candidates for implementation as a trivial Web service..."