5 ms·

Maybe I'm not super clear on the distinction, but isn't a web browser already the operating system for the web? It's the "OS" that runs web applications!

nineteen999 2y ago
A web browser is a desktop application. Like a video editor or DAW. Or a video game. It runs on top of an operating system. It isn't one. Calling a web browser an OS is like calling Urbit an OS. It's fantasy. These things are all applications. I don't understand this predilection that webgineers have to overstate the importance of the space they work in and deliberately try to obfuscate common terminology. Just go play with your HTML and JS and let the people who are not afraid of working at the hardware level do their job without trying to encroach on their territory and nomenclature.
- mid-kid 2y ago
  I'd say the job of an operating system is to host applications, provide interfaces for communication and I/O, and provide access to the hardware. Sound familiar? (Operating system is a very vaguely defined term)
  - nineteen999 2y ago
    My desktop applications don't generally break when my network connection does, unlike web applications. From Wikipedia: "An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common services for computer programs." In the case of the web browser, half the application runs on someone else's computer usually far away from the user, and the other half runs in the browser. The web browser doesn't manage computer hardware and software resources. It doesn't "provide access to the hardware". It can provide access to API's that can leverage the operating systems real hardware interfaces. Like other desktop applications, it only has access to the API's the operating system provides. These are not hardware interfaces, but software interfaces provided by libraries, the real operating system kernel etc. It's like trying to say a set square is a spirit level just because you can check straight lines with both. Only one of them can tell you if something is level or not.
    - lomase 2y ago
      An OS is software that manages computer resources. A webapp uses multiple computing resources. But the software that gives resoruces to a webapp is not at all like an OS to you.
- guiambros 2y ago
  That's overly reductionist. The OS is an abstraction layer between the hardware and applications, such that you don't need to write everything bare metal (like it happened in the 70's). In the past (read: 80's and 90's), that mean you'd have applications running on top of your OS, so you could delegate screen, device drivers, I/O, interrupt requests, and everything else to the OS. Now we're in a different abstraction layer. The browser became your interface to the hardware in many respects. If you're an application developer, you can develop "for the web", instead of targeting each OS individually. And with WebUSB/ WebGPU/ etc, the browser becomes even closer to a real OS. Now, it's interesting that mobile apps push us back to the 90's model. The promise of "write once/run everywhere" is gone, and you'll not only develop at least 2 separate mobile apps (potentially more -- e.g., tablets, TV, gaming consoles), but also deal with different OS APIs and different AppStore policies.
gwbas1c 2y ago
No, in this case the server provides abstractions like a filesystem.

nineteen999 2y ago

A web browser is a desktop application. Like a video editor or DAW. Or a video game. It runs on top of an operating system. It isn't one. Calling a web browser an OS is like calling Urbit an OS. It's fantasy. These things are all applications. I don't understand this predilection that webgineers have to overstate the importance of the space they work in and deliberately try to obfuscate common terminology. Just go play with your HTML and JS and let the people who are not afraid of working at the hardware level do their job without trying to encroach on their territory and nomenclature.

mid-kid 2y ago
I'd say the job of an operating system is to host applications, provide interfaces for communication and I/O, and provide access to the hardware. Sound familiar? (Operating system is a very vaguely defined term)
- nineteen999 2y ago
  My desktop applications don't generally break when my network connection does, unlike web applications. From Wikipedia: "An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common services for computer programs." In the case of the web browser, half the application runs on someone else's computer usually far away from the user, and the other half runs in the browser. The web browser doesn't manage computer hardware and software resources. It doesn't "provide access to the hardware". It can provide access to API's that can leverage the operating systems real hardware interfaces. Like other desktop applications, it only has access to the API's the operating system provides. These are not hardware interfaces, but software interfaces provided by libraries, the real operating system kernel etc. It's like trying to say a set square is a spirit level just because you can check straight lines with both. Only one of them can tell you if something is level or not.
  - lomase 2y ago
    An OS is software that manages computer resources. A webapp uses multiple computing resources. But the software that gives resoruces to a webapp is not at all like an OS to you.
guiambros 2y ago
That's overly reductionist. The OS is an abstraction layer between the hardware and applications, such that you don't need to write everything bare metal (like it happened in the 70's). In the past (read: 80's and 90's), that mean you'd have applications running on top of your OS, so you could delegate screen, device drivers, I/O, interrupt requests, and everything else to the OS. Now we're in a different abstraction layer. The browser became your interface to the hardware in many respects. If you're an application developer, you can develop "for the web", instead of targeting each OS individually. And with WebUSB/ WebGPU/ etc, the browser becomes even closer to a real OS. Now, it's interesting that mobile apps push us back to the 90's model. The promise of "write once/run everywhere" is gone, and you'll not only develop at least 2 separate mobile apps (potentially more -- e.g., tablets, TV, gaming consoles), but also deal with different OS APIs and different AppStore policies.

gwbas1c 2y ago

No, in this case the server provides abstractions like a filesystem.