Does a web application have to live in a browser to be called a web application? Or is a thin client that uses a web service for most of it's functionality a web applicaiton?
Does a web application have to live in a browser to be called a web application?
web applications
Yes I would say a web application has to live in a browser.  However, you can use web technologies to build something that is not a web application.  Your thin client does not sound like a web app.