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> "run a pretty limited OS" This is only true right now and only if browsers were not working to make more low level stuff available. There is very little lim
by Navarr 11y ago
> "run a pretty limited OS"
This is only true right now and only if browsers were not working to make more low level stuff available. There is very little limiting about being in a browser these days. Drivers, perhaps. Kernel stuff, perhaps.
But as far as a game is concerned? Or an email application? Or anything in the context of this discussion? Not too much limiting them.
- EliRivers 11y agoThis is only true right now It will always be true forever, or at least for as long as a web browser is a program run within an actual operating system. It's not a competition. Pick the right tools for the job. If the job is getting your eMail or playing a relatively simple game, and a web browser abstracting as an OS can support your needs, knock yourself out. If the job is something a bit bigger than that, use a more powerful OS.
- netfire 11y agoTake a look at what's currently available in desktop web browsers: maps, document and spreadsheet editing, highly interactive charts, video conferencing etc. (things previously thought impossible/impractical for a web browser to do) If you need huge amounts of data to even run your application, the argument to go native makes some sense, but the browser (even on mobile) isn't as inherently limited as the article describes. Lets not try to limit the web, but try to make it better and then let the users decide which they would prefer to use.
- EliRivers 11y agoI'm not limiting the web. You're not limiting the web. The web has limits. Actual, hard physical limitations (along with confidentiality and privacy limits); limits that something running entirely locally, directly with your actual operating system simply suffers, and will always suffer, to a much, much, much lower degree. Your opinion (and my opinion) is meaningless when confronted with actual, physical reality. Right tool for the job. That's all.
- netfire 11y agoBesides having to transfer data to run the application in the browser, what limitations are inherit in a web-based application? (I acknowledged the data transfer limitation in my previous comment). Browsers (especially mobile browsers) are unnecessarily limiting what can be done on the web. Adding additional permissions could enable browsers access to more system resources and components, especially on mobile. Could you provide some examples of applications that don't require a lot of data that couldn't be run in a web-based environment, because of physical (and not current browser or software) limitations?
- Navarr 11y agoDoesn't even necessarily have to transfer data with web workers, service workers, caching, etc. Google IO 2015, I believe, stores it's data so that when you load it up it loads from a cache that it's service worker will reload once you have it open. Allowing it to work offline and removing the cost of transfer at the beginning. I believe, not 100% on that.