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Can you please explain why? I care about privacy and security, and this trend seems like we're going backwards. If something needs network access, web apps make

Can you please explain why? I care about privacy and security, and this trend seems like we're going backwards. If something needs network access, web apps make sense. But I liked offline tools better when we called them "programs". Web apps to me seem like they turn the web browser into an operating system. I already have an OS.

circuit10 3y ago
There are some advantages to using the web as a platform: it’s fully cross platform, completely sandboxed, easy to use, has good backwards compatibility so will likely work forever regardless of OS/browser updates, gives you good debugging tools, and means you can use it without saving it locally if you want
akmittal 3y ago
There is no guarantee traditional program does not connect to internet, or run a bitcoin miner. So technically they are not better at privacy. Web applications are sandboxed, available on almost all the platform desktop and mobile and does not require installation.
YeBanKo 3y ago
Depending on which OS system you use, your programs can connect to internet and leak your data. As far as I know, neither Windows nor macOS have any built in firewall for outgoing connections. For mac Little Snitch or Lulu are indispensable. A JS app running in the browser sometimes maybe even easier to monitor. You can at least, see the network traffic by the built in devtool.
dartharva 3y ago
Too much fragmentation in native OSs and APIs. Making web apps is just too convenient for cross-platform implementation.