

How to make the Web OS viable - jmtulloss
http://justin.harmonize.fm/?p=35

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jacobscott
I think there are an incredible number of technical challenges for web
applications that are more interesting and important than consistency (focus
of article). How about scaling on the backend, performance on the frontend,
reliability, security, having a sufficiently rich browser platform... I'm sure
this list could go on for hours.

I don't do much frontend web programming, but is it really the case that no
framework is providing native look-and-feel via js/flash/etc? I mean, Java has
been doing this for a while and it is certainly not the new hotness. Chrome
(among many others) also allows web apps to snap out of the browser and appear
as a desktop app to OS GUIs.

Confused as to what the big problem is.

~~~
jmtulloss
Scaling and JavaScript performance are the issues that we're all working on.
Usability is something that gets focused on sometimes from site to site. There
is nobody focusing on providing a consistent experience across the web, and
for regular users to use the web as their only platform, it will eventually
have to be addressed.

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dandelany
"When a person buys a Windows PC, they can boot it up and use Microsoft Mail
with whatever email address they have. ...There is no web site that I know of
that lets you work with any email address."

Uh... Gmail? You know, the one by the same company who made the browser you're
writing an article about?

In fact, I would be surprised if Chrome 1.0 _doesn't_ have Gmail, Calendar,
etc. seamlessly integrated.

~~~
dandelany
Scratch that. GMail only allows accessing other accounts using POP3, not IMAP.
Boo.

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orib
More or less, web applications will continue to suck as long as they have a
browser jammed around them. The browser is a lame application platform; the
internet itself is important; it means that your apps are up to date, it means
that you can easily sync between machines, etc. The browser is ugly legacy
baggage for writing applications. We can do better.

