The entire browser's set of controls is written in C or C++ and is provided by underlying OS the browser runs on. On Windows it's RichEdit control. On Linux it'

The entire browser's set of controls is written in C or C++ and is provided by underlying OS the browser runs on. On Windows it's RichEdit control. On Linux it's something else. There is no API in existence that lets you do anything outside of browser limitations. JavaScript is only used to manipulate API of those controls, but not to implement controls themselves. This means that "Office" part of Google Docs is implemented by FireFox/IE/Safari, where google only provides storage for their output. I blogged about this "web apps nonsense" a few days ago: http://kontsevoy.blogspot.com/2008/02/web-vs-desktop-nonsense.html http://kontsevoy.blogspot.com/2008/02/web-vs-desktop-nonsens...