- From: Marcos Caceres <w3c@marcosc.com>
- Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:42:06 +0000
- To: "public-closingthegap@w3.org" <public-closingthegap@w3.org>
- Cc: Brian Leroux <brianl@adobe.com>
On Saturday, 9 March 2013 at 22:13, Brian Leroux wrote: > So lately ppl have been calling this thing 'hybrid apps'. I've also heard > installable web apps, packaged apps, and lately sys apps thrown around. It > is all much more of the same. While the approach has been a topic of > debate, the trend is undeniable: Firefox OS, WindowsRT, ChromeOS, > Blackberry WebWorks, Tizen, and webOS. All of this movement to web > technologies leaves me very optimistic. =) What's interesting in Firefox OS is the introduction of "hosted web apps" (in addition to supporting traditional packaged apps). This is an interesting conceptual point of departure from the traditional packaged apps (i.e., zipped + manifest + resources) in that it relies on the Web platform's AppCache to provide the zip-like offline capabilities while retaining the compatibility with the Web platform's same-origin security model (+CSP). The advantage hosted web apps have is that they literally just run off the Web Platform's protocols and security model (while, packaged apps have required things like Widget access request and the widget:// and now app:// URI scheme, which are not compatible with things like CORS). Of course, this comes with a conceptual shift for users in what it means to "own an app": as hosted apps are not tangible objects (like zip files are), what you are really buying is a license to use the application for some length of time (say, anywhere from a few minutes, until the Website ceases to exist). In other words, perhaps apps should really stop being communicated as "apps" and more as "services". I think this shift is a bit problematic for consumers who are used to buying software from a store and being able to access it indefinitely (even long after the entities that created the software are long gone). The above underlines the urgency about fixing offline capabilities that Brian mentioned in his email (and I also strongly agree with his other TODO requirements). Kind regards, Marcos -- Marcos Caceres http://datadriven.com.au
Received on Sunday, 10 March 2013 09:43:36 UTC