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Benefits to web app stores and installing apps: - Automatic permissions granting. With a normal site, a bunch of prompts could appear; "Allow this website to t

by Andrex 15y ago

Benefits to web app stores and installing apps: - Automatic permissions granting. With a normal site, a bunch of prompts could appear; "Allow this website to track your location?" "Allow this website to use notifications?" "Allow this website to use unlimited storage?" "Allow this website to use the file system?" et cetera. With an app, the browser knows when the user installs it that they want those things. - Discovery and monetization. Both suck for web apps right now. Discovery comes down to reading a tweet about an app, or Googling. Monetization is basically 99% advertising at this point, which isn't tenable for many industries. - Knowledge that the browser installing the app supports a common set of standards. When I make an app for the Web Store, I know 99% of people are using the latest stable version of Chrome, and the remaining 1% is using a future version. I don't have to do IE6/7/8 hacks, or even worry about it. Since you're a representative of Mozilla, I would also like to say I hope you guys don't give up on your "open" web store and app dashboard efforts. Eventually in an ideal world, the web app store model will be standardized and future browsers will be able to cross-install apps from each. Although there's nothing stopping Mozilla at this point from supporting .crx apps, Chromium is open source after all.

bad_user 15y ago
Automatic permissions granting That's an UI problem easily fixable by browsers. Discovery and monetization. Both suck for web apps right now Somehow products like Smugmug, GitHub, Basecamp haven't had this problem. There are easy ways for discovery, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and plain word-of-mouth. There's also an easy way for monetization -- it's called Paypal Websites Standard. I myself discovered this link by coming here, to HN. That's the beauty of an open web. Knowledge that the browser installing the app supports a common set of standards Easily checkable by other means. You're basically trying to redefine the problem to fit the solution. It doesn't work like that - App Stores are only useful for the platform provider, keeping that provider as an intermediary between the developer and his customers, getting a share of the revenue. The Internet changed that and now platform providers (e.g. older like Apple, Microsoft and newer, like Amazon, Google) are now fighting back. And the situation is exactly as in the old days of IExplorer - when devs developed for IE because they had consistency and it was the most popular browser anyway.
- Andrex 15y ago
  > That's an UI problem easily fixable by browsers. Not as easily solved as using the app model. > That's the beauty of an open web. And that's never going away. But there's a reason devs are all over iOS and Android right now, and not making web apps that are much easier to make cross-platform. > Easily checkable by other means. Not as easily, though. Nor as intuitively. > You're basically trying to redefine the problem to fit the solution. Me? I'm not working on the Web Store team. The solution is much-needed and is several years late. Google Maps and Gmail basically launched the web app wave, only for all the innovation to happen in mobile operating systems. It's time to bring those innovations to the browsers and make browsers the preeminent platform once again, which is what the web app and app store model seeks to accomplish.
  - bad_user 15y ago
    IMHO, I think the reason for devs liking iOS is because iOS represents a distribution channel for shitty/low-budget apps, with low customers expectations, customers that also have credit cards. But the gold-rush is going to end at some point, when the Top 50 chart is going to be dominated by the likes of EA Games and Blizzard.
    - Andrex 15y ago
      "Devs like it because there's money in it." Well, yes. It should be the goal of every platform to have a healthy developer ecosystem, so that the largest amount of devs can make some money. Just like in a country's economy, the goal should be to push the average quality of life higher.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]

by Andrex 15y ago

bad_user 15y ago

Automatic permissions granting That's an UI problem easily fixable by browsers. Discovery and monetization. Both suck for web apps right now Somehow products like Smugmug, GitHub, Basecamp haven't had this problem. There are easy ways for discovery, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and plain word-of-mouth. There's also an easy way for monetization -- it's called Paypal Websites Standard. I myself discovered this link by coming here, to HN. That's the beauty of an open web. Knowledge that the browser installing the app supports a common set of standards Easily checkable by other means. You're basically trying to redefine the problem to fit the solution. It doesn't work like that - App Stores are only useful for the platform provider, keeping that provider as an intermediary between the developer and his customers, getting a share of the revenue. The Internet changed that and now platform providers (e.g. older like Apple, Microsoft and newer, like Amazon, Google) are now fighting back. And the situation is exactly as in the old days of IExplorer - when devs developed for IE because they had consistency and it was the most popular browser anyway.

Andrex 15y ago
> That's an UI problem easily fixable by browsers. Not as easily solved as using the app model. > That's the beauty of an open web. And that's never going away. But there's a reason devs are all over iOS and Android right now, and not making web apps that are much easier to make cross-platform. > Easily checkable by other means. Not as easily, though. Nor as intuitively. > You're basically trying to redefine the problem to fit the solution. Me? I'm not working on the Web Store team. The solution is much-needed and is several years late. Google Maps and Gmail basically launched the web app wave, only for all the innovation to happen in mobile operating systems. It's time to bring those innovations to the browsers and make browsers the preeminent platform once again, which is what the web app and app store model seeks to accomplish.
- bad_user 15y ago
  IMHO, I think the reason for devs liking iOS is because iOS represents a distribution channel for shitty/low-budget apps, with low customers expectations, customers that also have credit cards. But the gold-rush is going to end at some point, when the Top 50 chart is going to be dominated by the likes of EA Games and Blizzard.
  - Andrex 15y ago
    "Devs like it because there's money in it." Well, yes. It should be the goal of every platform to have a healthy developer ecosystem, so that the largest amount of devs can make some money. Just like in a country's economy, the goal should be to push the average quality of life higher.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]