this could only happen in ubuntu, not in osx or windows or android. apple and microsoft and google all have turf wars, ownership issues, and general crankiness that precludes any meaningful and neutral integration of the web into the desktop
Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
21–30 of 82 posts
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#22This is awesome by ubuntu.
But its incredibly frustrating that it has taken this long for browser vendors and/or operating systems to push the possibility for webapps as first class desktop apps. (not really counting air)
Firefox is starting to introduce this functionality at last, I imagine chrome have similiar functionality coming (this used to work on linux!)
Prism was nice when it existed, and fluid I used to use from time to time but there was just too many hassles with it not being mainstream
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#23Android was leading the way in this (best sharing between online services etc). This looks like the first other OS to "get it" and push hard to integrate with the cloud. I think in some ways this surpasses Android. Mean while we have iOS that's just congratulating itself for allowing photo uploads to twitter, meanwhile my Android phone has integration with services I've never even heard of. And MacOS and Windows... n…
Win7 and IE9 had some integration, not sure if anyone used it but they are trying.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/222712/how_to_...
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#24Uh, desktop web shortcuts? Didn't I have this in Windows 98 and IE 5?
Watch more than the first 15 seconds of the video.
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#25Uh, desktop web shortcuts? Didn't I have this in Windows 98 and IE 5?
Watch more than the first 15 seconds of the video.
Honestly, I'm not really impressed. The demo of Shotwell was the only thing that seemed to be more than a link to a web app, and even then, it just looked like a normal app.
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#26Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#27Android was leading the way in this (best sharing between online services etc). This looks like the first other OS to "get it" and push hard to integrate with the cloud. I think in some ways this surpasses Android. Mean while we have iOS that's just congratulating itself for allowing photo uploads to twitter, meanwhile my Android phone has integration with services I've never even heard of. And MacOS and Windows... n…
Win7 and IE9 had some integration, not sure if anyone used it but they are trying. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/222712/how_to_...
That looks like a copy of chrome's "create application shortcut" and is less than a tiny percentage of what ubuntu is announcing. Am I missing something?
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#28Currently I can only see these as yet another way to lose a little bit of your privacy. But I'm also a debian kind of guy so... :P
what? how does this impact privacy in any way?
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#29My biggest worry is tying the HTML and JS engines too deeply into the desktop and end up with drive-by exploits that can do more than a browser would ordinarily be able to do.
I think this is a valid concern, but as JS engines start implementing more and more of the rich web client working drafts like FileAPI (http://www.w3.org/TR/FileAPI/), those same concerns will be valid for your browser too. I can only imagine that developers of desktop platforms like this are aware of these drafts too and are planning to utilize as much as they can of the functionality provided.
As with most security, our best hope lies in open implementations which can be audited for such problems, with consideration being drawn in during design and implementation stages from security experts. Hopefully some lessons were learned from the ActiveX desktop days!
Re: Introducing Ubuntu Web Apps: setting the web free of the browser
#30My biggest worry is tying the HTML and JS engines too deeply into the desktop and end up with drive-by exploits that can do more than a browser would ordinarily be able to do.
Agreed. They mention security once. Not enough. Odds of me using this over the hardened Chrome/ium are pretty slim. Having said that, as a long-time Ubuntu user, kudos to them for doing something new and interesting.
* Odds of me using this over the hardened Chrome/ium are pretty slim.
What are you saying here? This isn't a new browser, rather a plugin on the browsers. You still use Firefox or Chromium.