Re:Boot a linux kernel right inside your browser.
by adrianN on Tuesday May 17, 2011 @03:03PM
(#2557440)
It might just be me, but it seems profoundly silly to implement what basically amounts to a complete operating system in a browser. Why not use something reasonable like the Java or .Net VM to implement your cross platform applications? I think browsers should stay programs to browse webpages and therefore keep their focus on scripting that enables fancier HTML and CSS manipulation. While running Linux in a browser is an impressive feat, to me it is similar in spirit to simulating a Turing machine in the Game of Life.
Re:Boot a linux kernel right inside your browser.
by powertower on Tuesday May 17, 2011 @02:35PM
(#2557341)
I am not able to apprehend the kind of confusion of facts and ideas that could provoke your statements.
1. The function of the desktop, the browser, and the mobile is not the same thing.
2. Desktops have not failed, as you claim, in sandboxing/security/virtualization; (especially when compared to browsers).
3. Turning the browser into the desktop (low level APIs), is in turn re-implementation of the desktop.
Re:Boot a linux kernel right inside your browser.
by rbranson on Tuesday May 17, 2011 @03:27PM
(#2557510)
You're always going to feel hobbled by a standards-based, compatibility-driven platform like the web where you must maintain compatibility with fairly ancient software. This is just the way things are. If it wasn't the web, it'd be whatever layer was used to allow your applications to run across multiple devices.
Re:Boot a linux kernel right inside your browser.
by podperson on Tuesday May 17, 2011 @02:35PM
(#2557340)
I'd love to see something replace HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but how would this be different from Java? We already have Java.
Actually, I'd say it's called 'mobile'; The desktop failed to solve the sandboxing problem.
> And the only people that want to see it, are the ones who have forgotten about it.
As a desktop-turned-mobile developer, I haven't forgotten anything.
Simply put, I want a future in which we aren't forced to re-implement our applications multiple times for disparate, proprietary mobile platforms.
I already lived through that on the desktop. The only reason I haven't embraced the web for application development is that the technology stack is, by comparison, hobbled.
> Maybe there is a middle ground between desktop software and browsers, but personally I'd like to keep them apart.
Treating the browser as the sacrosanct temple of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is throwing away the limited opportunity browsers have to pre-empt Android and iOS as a first-class, standardized application platform.