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As much as I support what they are doing, I don't see Apple implementing any of this any time soon - even if it is in the Webkit trunk, they'll just rip it out/

by dotBen 15y ago

As much as I support what they are doing, I don't see Apple implementing any of this any time soon - even if it is in the Webkit trunk, they'll just rip it out/deactivate it. Apple's strategy for their phone platform runs deeper then just what is in the open source Webkit codebase. I used to think/hope open platforms would ultimately win in the market but iOS and the Apple App Store has kind of proved otherwise.

sjs 15y ago
Why not? They pioneered all the techniques they use for using web apps like native apps on iOS, such as adding them to the home screen. I don't think there's any evidence that supports your argument whatsoever. If people want to run web apps on iOS devices Apples is more than happy to sell them for that purpose.
- cgislason 15y ago
  I agree, unless someone can point to anything Apple has ripped out or deactivated in WebKit. Apple seems to have been pretty open with Mobile Safari. The most closed thing I can think of is when they only enabled their faster JS engine for the browser itself and not for apps. The next major release changed that, and it is not related to WebKit itself.
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    Apple has restricted some stuff in WebKit but I don't think anyone would argue that they did so to weaken it. For example you can't (or at least couldn't in the past) use position:fixed in Mobile Safari, and overflow:scroll was relegated to a two finger scroll that no one really knew about and is/was a little intuitive (I think they've fixed this with iOS5 though).
  - lukifer 15y ago
    Nitro is enabled in iOS for web apps added to the home screen, but not UIWebViews (aka, PhoneGap). While I don't think it's actively sinister, it doesn't seem like they're going out of their way to correct it, either.
    - henrikhansen 15y ago
      The problem is that they can't allow programs to execute parts of the memory as instructions. This is needed for efficient JITs like the one in Nitro. Apple is actively (Frequent commits) working on fixing this problem. The project is called Webkit2, and features a Javascript interpreter that runs in a separate process, and thus is able to safely execute Javascript on iOS. This model, btw., is inspired by the multi-process architecture found in other major browsers.
- ristretto 15y ago
  I wonder how Apple feels about web apps after the success that they 've seen with the app store. I mean, they have in the past banned phonegap apps, but only the grounds of their developer terms. For one, i ditched the kindle app ever since i discovered read.amazon.com .
ristretto 15y ago
Well, if the android browser supports it, i think apple will follow. There are going to be so many web apps made, that it's going to be impossible to ignore.
shawndumas 15y ago
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/08/23/itunes-store-revenue http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/08/23/itunes-store-rev...

by dotBen 15y ago

sjs 15y ago

Why not? They pioneered all the techniques they use for using web apps like native apps on iOS, such as adding them to the home screen. I don't think there's any evidence that supports your argument whatsoever. If people want to run web apps on iOS devices Apples is more than happy to sell them for that purpose.

cgislason 15y ago
I agree, unless someone can point to anything Apple has ripped out or deactivated in WebKit. Apple seems to have been pretty open with Mobile Safari. The most closed thing I can think of is when they only enabled their faster JS engine for the browser itself and not for apps. The next major release changed that, and it is not related to WebKit itself.
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  Apple has restricted some stuff in WebKit but I don't think anyone would argue that they did so to weaken it. For example you can't (or at least couldn't in the past) use position:fixed in Mobile Safari, and overflow:scroll was relegated to a two finger scroll that no one really knew about and is/was a little intuitive (I think they've fixed this with iOS5 though).
- lukifer 15y ago
  Nitro is enabled in iOS for web apps added to the home screen, but not UIWebViews (aka, PhoneGap). While I don't think it's actively sinister, it doesn't seem like they're going out of their way to correct it, either.
  - henrikhansen 15y ago
    The problem is that they can't allow programs to execute parts of the memory as instructions. This is needed for efficient JITs like the one in Nitro. Apple is actively (Frequent commits) working on fixing this problem. The project is called Webkit2, and features a Javascript interpreter that runs in a separate process, and thus is able to safely execute Javascript on iOS. This model, btw., is inspired by the multi-process architecture found in other major browsers.
ristretto 15y ago
I wonder how Apple feels about web apps after the success that they 've seen with the app store. I mean, they have in the past banned phonegap apps, but only the grounds of their developer terms. For one, i ditched the kindle app ever since i discovered read.amazon.com .

ristretto 15y ago

Well, if the android browser supports it, i think apple will follow. There are going to be so many web apps made, that it's going to be impossible to ignore.

shawndumas 15y ago

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/08/23/itunes-store-revenue http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/08/23/itunes-store-rev...