4 ms·

So browser extensions are bad now? When can HN get off the hate train for everything new? This place is seriously starting to depress me.

archagon 13y ago
Well, most browser extensions relate to browsing. Google, on the other hand, is trying to turn the browser into an OS. This is a really big shift that may very well determine the future of computing, so I think there's plenty here for people to get legitimately angry about. Not really the same kind of "hate train" that occasionally shows up on project posts, I think.
- techzomby 13y ago
  What's wrong with the Chrome browser becoming an OS? What you get is a fast and secure OS. Most users spend most of the time on the browser anyways - why not leverage that to make user's lives easier?
  - archagon 13y ago
    I don't know about others, but for me, it just doesn't make any conceptual sense. Would you use Excel as a word processor? Would you use Lightroom for mapping? The modern operating system offers so many amazing frameworks and features; why throw that all away and start anew on a shaky foundation of Javascript, HTML, and insanely complicated rendering code, all originally designed for a completely different purpose? I prefer my software to adhere to the single responsibility principle as much as possible. EDIT: Why are you downvoting me? If you disagree, that's what the reply button is for. I'd like to think that HN is better than Reddit.
  - epsylon 13y ago
    Why would I want a crippled, vendor locked-in OS inside my fully capable and free OS?
- coldtea 13y ago
  >What's wrong with the Chrome browser becoming an OS? What you get is a fast and secure OS. Citation very much needed. Fast? It's slower than native, and --for some tasks, like any kind involving multimedia editing-- useless. Secure? When did OS+browser became more secure than just OS?
  - haberman 13y ago
    > Secure? When did OS+browser became more secure than just OS? You can't get a virus from visiting a web page. You don't give a web page access to all your files just by visiting it. Running a native app requires significantly more trust than running a web app. Web apps are significantly more sandboxed.
    - coldtea 13y ago
      >You can't get a virus from visiting a web page. You very much can. In fact, that was one of the most common attack vector for viruses: web browser exploits, from applet bugs to native web browser code buffer overflows and other issues.
      - afsina 13y ago
        Applets are very different from web extensions.
      - haberman 13y ago
        Do I really have to spell things out in legalistic precision to make what should be a very obvious point? Are you really going to argue that native apps and web apps are equally secure because web browsers can occasionally be compromised to give you the permissions that native apps give you by default? Are you really going to argue against the security of today's web browsers because security of browsers used to be comparatively atrocious? If I give you the choice of either running my malicious native app or visiting my malicious website, are you really going to say that they are equally risky?
        13y ago
- tadfisher 13y ago
  Are people angry about building an OS that incorporates Chrome? Or are they angry about Web apps shipping on the desktop, turning Chrome into an application platform? These are separate things (Linux does not ship with your desktop browser, for example), and frankly, criticizing either is ignoring the couple of years' worth of successful desktop applications running mostly in embedded WebKit. Making this environment useful through a centrally-controlled and sandboxed runtime and, now, a development toolkit, is simply not worth being angry about at this point.
- sangnoir 13y ago
  > Google, on the other hand, is trying to turn the browser into an OS This isn't new, not since Marc Andreessen said "[Netscape will soon reduce Windows to] a poorly debugged set of device drivers" - in 1995. Which I take to mean he fully intended to make everything above device drivers the domain of the browser.
- pkulak 13y ago
  It's not an OS, it's a development platform. Linux/Windows/Mac is the OS.

archagon 13y ago

Well, most browser extensions relate to browsing. Google, on the other hand, is trying to turn the browser into an OS. This is a really big shift that may very well determine the future of computing, so I think there's plenty here for people to get legitimately angry about. Not really the same kind of "hate train" that occasionally shows up on project posts, I think.

techzomby 13y ago
What's wrong with the Chrome browser becoming an OS? What you get is a fast and secure OS. Most users spend most of the time on the browser anyways - why not leverage that to make user's lives easier?
- archagon 13y ago
  I don't know about others, but for me, it just doesn't make any conceptual sense. Would you use Excel as a word processor? Would you use Lightroom for mapping? The modern operating system offers so many amazing frameworks and features; why throw that all away and start anew on a shaky foundation of Javascript, HTML, and insanely complicated rendering code, all originally designed for a completely different purpose? I prefer my software to adhere to the single responsibility principle as much as possible. EDIT: Why are you downvoting me? If you disagree, that's what the reply button is for. I'd like to think that HN is better than Reddit.
- epsylon 13y ago
  Why would I want a crippled, vendor locked-in OS inside my fully capable and free OS?
coldtea 13y ago
>What's wrong with the Chrome browser becoming an OS? What you get is a fast and secure OS. Citation very much needed. Fast? It's slower than native, and --for some tasks, like any kind involving multimedia editing-- useless. Secure? When did OS+browser became more secure than just OS?
- haberman 13y ago
  > Secure? When did OS+browser became more secure than just OS? You can't get a virus from visiting a web page. You don't give a web page access to all your files just by visiting it. Running a native app requires significantly more trust than running a web app. Web apps are significantly more sandboxed.
  - coldtea 13y ago
    >You can't get a virus from visiting a web page. You very much can. In fact, that was one of the most common attack vector for viruses: web browser exploits, from applet bugs to native web browser code buffer overflows and other issues.
    - afsina 13y ago
      Applets are very different from web extensions.
    - haberman 13y ago
      Do I really have to spell things out in legalistic precision to make what should be a very obvious point? Are you really going to argue that native apps and web apps are equally secure because web browsers can occasionally be compromised to give you the permissions that native apps give you by default? Are you really going to argue against the security of today's web browsers because security of browsers used to be comparatively atrocious? If I give you the choice of either running my malicious native app or visiting my malicious website, are you really going to say that they are equally risky?
      - 13y ago
tadfisher 13y ago
Are people angry about building an OS that incorporates Chrome? Or are they angry about Web apps shipping on the desktop, turning Chrome into an application platform? These are separate things (Linux does not ship with your desktop browser, for example), and frankly, criticizing either is ignoring the couple of years' worth of successful desktop applications running mostly in embedded WebKit. Making this environment useful through a centrally-controlled and sandboxed runtime and, now, a development toolkit, is simply not worth being angry about at this point.
sangnoir 13y ago
> Google, on the other hand, is trying to turn the browser into an OS This isn't new, not since Marc Andreessen said "[Netscape will soon reduce Windows to] a poorly debugged set of device drivers" - in 1995. Which I take to mean he fully intended to make everything above device drivers the domain of the browser.
pkulak 13y ago
It's not an OS, it's a development platform. Linux/Windows/Mac is the OS.