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The Web must not stand still. It is the only open platform we have. The web (and browsers) becoming a relic from the past is too great a risk for humanity. Kee

by jeswin 11y ago

The Web must not stand still. It is the only open platform we have. The web (and browsers) becoming a relic from the past is too great a risk for humanity. Keep pushing the Web forward till the next What's App or Snapchat is a Web app. Till we have decentralized app hosting and file sharing. Till we have native execution speed. Till we can distribute or install fully functional applications outside the arbitrariness of Apple and Google store policies. Here's to those who are pushing the web forward.

icebraining 11y ago
You can install apps outside of the Google store policies pretty easily. I'd take a sideloaded open source app over a proprietary web app any day.
- bobajeff 11y ago
  I've said it before and I'll say it again: applications that require a specific machine or system to run, make about as much sense as image, audio or video files with the same limitation. Does that mean that everything should be a web application? No, but it's the most developed vendor neutral, machine/system independent runtime available. So progress being made there should influence progress in future runtimes of it's like.
EGreg 11y ago
Soon ;-) http://qbix.com/platform http://qbix.com/platform
xorcist 11y ago
How is email not an open platform? Or IRC? Or git?
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
  Email, IRC and git are not application platforms. The first two are communication tools, the latter is a version control system. Apples to hammers.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    HTTP servers and clients are also communication tools.
lumberjack 11y ago
Web apps force users to upload the data to the server instead of forcing users to run mysterious binaries on their local machines. I'm not going to get into which is worst but the current SAAS/web app model is neither open nor free in any meaningful way either.
- gotchange 11y ago
  Most mobile apps have a web interface and they can communicate with servers on a regular basis making them not that different from their web counterparts.
- lewisl9029 11y ago
  Web apps do not intrinsically force users to upload anything. Client-side web apps can operate entirely offline and store data only on the client. They can also be configured for app-like operation by including a Web App Manifest [1], created specifically for this purpose. Until the Web App Manifest gets widespread platform support (which may not ever happen since both Apple and Google are heavily incentivized to keep app developers locked-in to their ecosystems), you can use manifoldJS [2] to polyfill for platforms that do not support it using Cordova. [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/ http://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/ [2] http://manifoldjs.com/ http://manifoldjs.com/ EDIT: So apparently Chrome for Android already supports the Web App Manifest [3], but to distribute for the Play Store you still need a .apk package, which is probably why manifoldJS still polyfills it. In contrast, Firefox OS allows submitting apps to the Market from your web app's URL directly, as long as it has a manifest. [3] https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2014/11/Support-for-installable-web-apps-with-webapp-manifest-in-chrome-38-for-Android?hl=en https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2014/11/Support-fo...
  - VOYD 11y ago
    all the personal info you send just connecting to a "web" or "mobile" app, is of utmost importance to the company hosting the web site/app. "operating" offline just means that data is uploaded when a user in "online" or it's done in the background.
jacquesm 11y ago
> It is the only open platform we have. No, the internet is the only open platform we have and the web is but one application riding on top of that platform.

by jeswin 11y ago

icebraining 11y ago

You can install apps outside of the Google store policies pretty easily. I'd take a sideloaded open source app over a proprietary web app any day.

bobajeff 11y ago
I've said it before and I'll say it again: applications that require a specific machine or system to run, make about as much sense as image, audio or video files with the same limitation. Does that mean that everything should be a web application? No, but it's the most developed vendor neutral, machine/system independent runtime available. So progress being made there should influence progress in future runtimes of it's like.

EGreg 11y ago

Soon ;-) http://qbix.com/platform http://qbix.com/platform

xorcist 11y ago

How is email not an open platform? Or IRC? Or git?

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
Email, IRC and git are not application platforms. The first two are communication tools, the latter is a version control system. Apples to hammers.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  HTTP servers and clients are also communication tools.

lumberjack 11y ago

Web apps force users to upload the data to the server instead of forcing users to run mysterious binaries on their local machines. I'm not going to get into which is worst but the current SAAS/web app model is neither open nor free in any meaningful way either.

gotchange 11y ago
Most mobile apps have a web interface and they can communicate with servers on a regular basis making them not that different from their web counterparts.
lewisl9029 11y ago
Web apps do not intrinsically force users to upload anything. Client-side web apps can operate entirely offline and store data only on the client. They can also be configured for app-like operation by including a Web App Manifest [1], created specifically for this purpose. Until the Web App Manifest gets widespread platform support (which may not ever happen since both Apple and Google are heavily incentivized to keep app developers locked-in to their ecosystems), you can use manifoldJS [2] to polyfill for platforms that do not support it using Cordova. [1] http://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/ http://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/ [2] http://manifoldjs.com/ http://manifoldjs.com/ EDIT: So apparently Chrome for Android already supports the Web App Manifest [3], but to distribute for the Play Store you still need a .apk package, which is probably why manifoldJS still polyfills it. In contrast, Firefox OS allows submitting apps to the Market from your web app's URL directly, as long as it has a manifest. [3] https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2014/11/Support-for-installable-web-apps-with-webapp-manifest-in-chrome-38-for-Android?hl=en https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2014/11/Support-fo...
- VOYD 11y ago
  all the personal info you send just connecting to a "web" or "mobile" app, is of utmost importance to the company hosting the web site/app. "operating" offline just means that data is uploaded when a user in "online" or it's done in the background.

jacquesm 11y ago

> It is the only open platform we have. No, the internet is the only open platform we have and the web is but one application riding on top of that platform.