The Unix Way(tm) is great for developers, but ties you to enormous local client state. "Just cram it into the browser" has lots of advantages for many use cases

The Unix Way(tm) is great for developers, but ties you to enormous local client state. "Just cram it into the browser" has lots of advantages for many use cases: 1) actual computer local state irrelevent. If HD fails or computer falls into a river, it's no big deal. 2) Sharing your computer is a lot easier. Hand a ChromeBook to someone and they are instantly productive with it, as there is no need to "set up" their environment and all their apps. 3) Arguably more secure. Big decrease in surface area for private attackers to penetrate with viruses or malware. Arguably, increase in surface area for government surveillance. Depends on whether you find Eastern European hackers getting your financial info more damaging to you than the NSA/GCHQ. Ask yourself this: Does Captain Picard carry around an entire copy of the Enterprise computer on him, or does his com-badge just talk to the ship computer? Cloud computing is the latest iteration in the pivot between mainframe and client, and for some usage models, it is far more convenient to cloud host all of your state, and make your client very thin and cheap.