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This may seem like an oversimplification but like the article says all web apps are built on browsers and all browsers are built on an OS and all OSes are built

by tjmaxal 16y ago

This may seem like an oversimplification but like the article says all web apps are built on browsers and all browsers are built on an OS and all OSes are built on hardware, all hardware is built on a chip set etc, etc, etc, till you get down to the fact that all of it runs on electricity. It seems like it's turtles all the way down.

patio11 16y ago
That is an oversimplification, in important respects. There are multiple competing options for most of those platforms, responsibility for them is diffuse, and change happens very gradually. I mean, yes, technically speaking, I am dependent on electricity. But that doesn't mean there is a $8 an hour representative at the power company whose job is to shut down 24 businesses today to preserve the power company's vision for what proper use of electricity looks like, and whose decision is beyond repeal.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  That is an oversimplification, in important respects. It's not so much the fact of a platform. It's the nature of the ecosystem that lives on that platform. How open is it? Is it subject to whims and sudden change? Are these alternatives? Are there open standards? Is there competition between implementations?
- fierarul 16y ago
  > That is an oversimplification, in important respects. There are multiple competing options for most of those platforms, responsibility for them is diffuse, and change happens very gradually. Also, at some point it's not platform, it's infrastructure. You could assume that your business will use credit cards and online payment since this is part of the infrastructure but when you are using the payment API of company MegaCorp to have those payments, you might get burned with their particular Platform. > I mean, yes, technically speaking, I am dependent on electricity. But that doesn't mean there is a $8 an hour representative at the power company whose job is to shut down 24 businesses today to preserve the power company's vision for what proper use of electricity looks like, and whose decision is beyond repeal. This isn't a good comparison. The thing is the electricity provider is much more regulated by laws, more stable and slower in changes compared to some other companies. Also -- it's infrastructure. Technically, some "power company vision" is kept since you can't actually put any two wires to make a gizmo and sell it on the market as a product. Another interesting factoid: home users have a limit on how much electricity you can consume. After a given limit you have to ask special permit from the electricity provider and probably pay extra. The trick is all these things are stipulated somewhere and public.
Raphael 16y ago
The issue seems to be reliability. Ventrillo was a bad situation because it could change one day and break anything built on top of it. With an OS and some hardware, I can be confident that a program written today will still run a year from now, because those have proven to be reliable platforms.

by tjmaxal 16y ago

patio11 16y ago

That is an oversimplification, in important respects. There are multiple competing options for most of those platforms, responsibility for them is diffuse, and change happens very gradually. I mean, yes, technically speaking, I am dependent on electricity. But that doesn't mean there is a $8 an hour representative at the power company whose job is to shut down 24 businesses today to preserve the power company's vision for what proper use of electricity looks like, and whose decision is beyond repeal.

stcredzero 16y ago
That is an oversimplification, in important respects. It's not so much the fact of a platform. It's the nature of the ecosystem that lives on that platform. How open is it? Is it subject to whims and sudden change? Are these alternatives? Are there open standards? Is there competition between implementations?
fierarul 16y ago
> That is an oversimplification, in important respects. There are multiple competing options for most of those platforms, responsibility for them is diffuse, and change happens very gradually. Also, at some point it's not platform, it's infrastructure. You could assume that your business will use credit cards and online payment since this is part of the infrastructure but when you are using the payment API of company MegaCorp to have those payments, you might get burned with their particular Platform. > I mean, yes, technically speaking, I am dependent on electricity. But that doesn't mean there is a $8 an hour representative at the power company whose job is to shut down 24 businesses today to preserve the power company's vision for what proper use of electricity looks like, and whose decision is beyond repeal. This isn't a good comparison. The thing is the electricity provider is much more regulated by laws, more stable and slower in changes compared to some other companies. Also -- it's infrastructure. Technically, some "power company vision" is kept since you can't actually put any two wires to make a gizmo and sell it on the market as a product. Another interesting factoid: home users have a limit on how much electricity you can consume. After a given limit you have to ask special permit from the electricity provider and probably pay extra. The trick is all these things are stipulated somewhere and public.

Raphael 16y ago

The issue seems to be reliability. Ventrillo was a bad situation because it could change one day and break anything built on top of it. With an OS and some hardware, I can be confident that a program written today will still run a year from now, because those have proven to be reliable platforms.