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Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by hood_syntax on Tuesday December 19, 2017 @07:58AM (#15959841)
Yeah, if we want latency added to literally every action... I understand that what you're saying is a possibility, but I sure hope it doesn't come to pass.
Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by chongli on Tuesday December 19, 2017 @09:44AM (#15960514)
Those of us who get frustrated by latency in our tools were left behind long ago. Shiny user interfaces, cloud to-do lists, adblockers, bloated fad frameworks of the week, electron apps, blue apron for dogs... This is our reality now.

I miss the internet I grew up with. The one before all the money arrived to ruin absolutely everything.

Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by TheRealPomax on Tuesday December 19, 2017 @09:10AM (#15960272)
New technology starts with the above-well-off, using tech you currency consider "absurdly unattaible to the masses" (like cars in the 20s, or telephone in the 40s, or computers in the 60s, or 24/7 internet in the 90s): for instance, when you just get a basically free gigabit connection straight into the backbone (like in a new upscale Japanese apartment building) the very idea that latency could even be a problem just... disappears.

In that context, just attaching an interactive window to a remote running process (as long as it can stream faster than whatever is your minimum acceptable framerate at your minimum acceptable resolution) is literally indistinguishable from running locally. So I frankly do hope that comes to pass (as long as I also get to keep being able to build a desktop computer for working offline).

Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by adrianN on Wednesday December 20, 2017 @03:04AM (#15967856)
Latency and bandwidth are different though. Your GBit connection won't help you access servers on the other side of the Atlantic.
Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by TheRealPomax on Wednesday December 20, 2017 @06:31AM (#15968727)
I have no idea why you would need to leave your country in a world where we're back to thin clients and remote processing. Pretty sure the most obvious place for that processing to take place is at what used to be ISPs and have in this hypothetical future become Interactive Service Providers rather than "internet" service providers, with low latency, high bandwidth hubs in or near your city (and more likely, multiple hubs per city).
Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by woogley on Tuesday December 19, 2017 @09:27AM (#15960369)
The catalyst of such a shift could be a very good thing, e.g. exceptional internet speeds everywhere
Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by baybal2 on Tuesday December 19, 2017 @09:27AM (#15960371)
Now I expect that there will come usability experts from google/facebook/amazon and tell you that an average user does not event know what latency is.

Native apps have won over web app ecosystem, plainly and simple. WASM will not change things even a bit to root causes of people deciding to use native apps over web apps.

Re:Introduction to WebAssembly: why should we care? by greiskul on Tuesday December 19, 2017 @01:57PM (#15962938)
Google and amazon certainly think the average user cares about latency, even if they don't know what it is: https://blog.gigaspaces.com/amazon-found-every-100ms-of-late...