Two words: Application permissions.
Any application I install on the desktop can potentially steal my data and ruin my life.
And no, big names like Spotify or Valve don’t offer complete protection either due to supply chain attacks.
Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
11–20 of 315 posts
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#12Maybe I missed it, but I don't think the article even provides figures for the percentage of time spent in a browser on mobile versus desktop. If it is indeed skewed toward non-browser activities on the phone, that's got to mostly be due to hardware integration for things that don't exist or aren't used the same way on most desktops (camera, voice assistant, GPS) and better notification interfaces (messaging apps, wh…
> camera, voice assistant, GPS
Phones could add APIs for webapps to use those.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#13I thing one main missed point here is that the web-as-app shift on desktop happened before computers were super-mainstream and daily-used. It happened when most of its users were fine with new techniques to get stuff done.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#14One word: Apple. Preventing PWAs is detrimental to users and an abuse of their monopoly.
Is android native development still a thing?
It's always confusing when people say "native" on Android... you never know if they mean "not a web app" (SDK) or "machine code" (NDK). Do you mean the latter?
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#15Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#16Mobile code can not burn battery on unnecessary cpu use, and certainly not on unnecessary use of power transmitting over a radio link repetitively loading things: desktop gets power plugged into a wall and is therefore less constrained.
> unnecessary use of power transmitting over a radio link repetitively loading things
Web apps can be installed on the phone. Has been working on Android for a long time, and it won't need to reload anything. I don't see them being much less efficient than "native" Android apps, especially considering their average quality.
> desktop gets power plugged into a wall and is therefore less constrained
Unless it's a laptop.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is android native development still a thing?
It's always confusing when people say "native" on Android... you never know if they mean "not a web app" (SDK) or "machine code" (NDK). Do you mean the latter?
I'm pretty sure it's "not a web app" in most contexts, but that's an interesting point I hadn't thought of before.
What do you mean by "machine code" though? To me, the most native you can get is a Java/C++ app that uses Android APIs directly. Anything lower is systems development, something not generally possible for normal developers.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#18One word: Apple. Preventing PWAs is detrimental to users and an abuse of their monopoly.
Its not sufficient of an explanation.
For desktop browsers there are also no application launch icons.
Probably has most to do with the limits of the UX of a phone. Pulling up a browser and typing in a url, hitting autocomplete is done in 2 seconds. On mobile everything is so much more painful, a lot more desire for one click wonder buttons
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#19For me, opening and dealing with the browser and web apps on mobile is more of a hassle than doing the same thing on desktop. On the latter, I have my browser with pinned tabs with the apps I use (email apps, project management apps, etc.) and it just stays there.
Trying to do the same thing on mobile is a pain, so it's more convenient to use the mobile apps there.
Re: Why did the web take over desktop and not mobile?
#20One word: Apple. Preventing PWAs is detrimental to users and an abuse of their monopoly.
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