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Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

arstechnica.com

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Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#131

Post by MBCook »

coldtea wrote: post #125
MBCook wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will all be sorted out (to some degree). I don’t understand how YouTubers expected to never have advertisers try to scrutinize what they’re supporting or putting their name next to. And yes, good people are getting dragged down by association because there are other things on YT that are toxic to advertisers like the weird copyright infringing kids content or the seemingly abusive kids content. But if YT is going…

> I don’t understand how YouTubers expected to never have advertisers try to scrutinize what they’re supporting or putting their name next to. For one, because they shouldn't have a say. They should pay for views, and that's it. If they don't like a specific program, they can not sponsor it -- but not try to affect regular ad rotation through all kinds of videos a users sees through their ad money. Because with the l…

> Because with the latter way, advertisers also get censorship power over content providers.

But they’ve always had that over ad-sponsored content. That’s what makes it ad-sponsored, that they choose who to pay and thus can pull funds for any reason.

Again, why should YT be different than other mediums with ad sponsored content?

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#132

Post by dragonwriter »

pgrote wrote: post #118
bane wrote: post #59

What's the future for Chrome Remote Desktop?

They are deprecating the app and going to a web application. There is also a companion extension, but I am unsure what purpose it serves. https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/uVCvle... https://remotedesktop.google.com/

Extensions can use some APIs that are not available to web apps (but not all of the ones that Chrome Apps could use), and Web App + Extension is one of the Google recommended migration paths for Chrome Apps that use functionality beyond that available to pure web apps.

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#133

Post by LordKano »

brazzledazzle wrote: post #89
LordKano wrote: post #87

After the frustration I faced when google killed iGoogle, I decided that I would never again become invested in anything from Google other than search and email.

Is the expectation that Google maintain products even when they're not profitable or beneficial for them? I can understand if they don't provide a reasonable sunset date but investing yourself in any company's product is a risk. At least with Google you'll get notice instead of a static html page one day announcing the shuttering of the service.

I completely understand that Google has to retire products that are not profitable.

I'm speaking only of my own frustration.

There are ripple effects that impact Google's other businesses. I wasn't willing to switch to Google Plus for that same reason. I'm certain that I'm not the only one.

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#134

Post by Klathmon »

tinus_hn wrote: post #129
Klathmon wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but people become untrustworthy very quickly. It doesn't make any sense to them, so they distrust it. Especially because we had been encouraging the act of bookmarking our web app on the homescreen for years (since it works great for our use case! Offline access is possible, loads quickly, no worries of apple shutting us down, and it's as cross platform as it gets). Also the wording is difficult. Telling users t…

You could check if one of the features that is only available on the home screen is available

That's kind of what I do when checking the `navigator.standalone` property, but it means I'm basically doing useragent sniffing by a different name, since if they fix this in iOS 12 I'll need to update my app so they can use it.

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#135

Post by MBCook »

berkes wrote: post #99
MBCook wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good. Every time browsers get new features people (ESPECIALLY ad networks) abuse it for tracking and other nefarious purposes. Battery level, light level, probably even gyroscope stuff. Hell they fingerprint canvas which isn’t even an iOS thing. I don’t want these issues. I LIKE these restrictions so random sites I visit (and even worse random code injected in them) can’t watch me as easy. Apps have issues but I cont…

This is a strange argument. The website operator/publisher is the one choosing to track you (or not). Not some magic third party. If you don't trust example.com from tracking you, you certainly cannot trust example.App from tracking you. For web, the technology is at least transparant and you can detect being tracked. With native apps, there is nothing you can do, other than reverse engineering the binaries, monitori…

I trust example.com. The problem is they include Google ads which can do anything to track me the browser allows.

If I download the example.com app then any tracking is limited to what they included either themselves or through an SDK. I know that $random_advertiser doesn’t get to execute their own code.

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#136

Post by MBCook »

bad_user wrote: post #86
MBCook wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good. Every time browsers get new features people (ESPECIALLY ad networks) abuse it for tracking and other nefarious purposes. Battery level, light level, probably even gyroscope stuff. Hell they fingerprint canvas which isn’t even an iOS thing. I don’t want these issues. I LIKE these restrictions so random sites I visit (and even worse random code injected in them) can’t watch me as easy. Apps have issues but I cont…

Wait, what? That's not an argument. Desktop browsers have features and add-ons for the privacy conscious right now. You can block trackers, third party cookies, JavaScript execution and anything you need. Personally I feel much, much safer loading a website than when executing a binary on my computer or phone. You can block any elements on any website from loading, but you can't inspect application binaries and block…

Apps that show image ads don’t get to execute random people’s JS on my phone.

(I avoid the vast majority of ad laden apps anyway, partlybfor tracking reasons).

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#137

Post by z3t4 »

JepZ wrote: post #95
tonetheman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with PWAs is they do not provide the same access as a Chrome App (file system, sockets...) so it is not a replacement for those Apps using that functionality. Just another case of Chrome running in like a bull and doing one thing then breaking it later. :( Anyone who needs the low level functionality will end up with a native app that use native messaging to talk to Chrome. Or just stands alone.

Actually you are so right... And I do not understand why google doesn't seem to solve that problem... I mean I really like PWAs. But while they are around since a while now (about 2 years?), the pain points have not been addressed so far. - Privacy: There are multiple issues related to privacy here (transparent updates, Serviceworker running in the background without the user knowing about it), and when I see it how…

You can make a virtual file system in the browser using localStorage. You can then sync it across devices and browsers via a server.

You can upload files to the PWA using drag-n-drop or file input. You can also send files from the PWA to the device file system.

I think it's important that Web browsers can't automatically control the device hard drives, imagine if all web sites you visited would be able to do rm / -rf or scan all files on your hard drive.

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#139

Post by z3t4 »

5ilv3r wrote: post #115
ctrl-j wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have an alternative to offer? Facebook is where the users are. What is your non-facebook approach to get visibility from new users?

Local seems to be the next frontier. As in, a storefront. What's old is new again (again)!

And don't forget about public relations. Spend some time with your future users!

Re: Chrome Apps are dead, as Google shuts down the Chrome Web Store section

#140

Post by xangold »

thatmatt wrote: post #124

As a chrome app dev (Videostream is our app) the transition has been really annoying. They've given us ample time to prepare for the shutdown and we've developed a new app, from scratch, to work outside of the Chrome app world but they (as engineers tend to do) did nothing to mitigate the disaster of a transition. Through blogs, tweets, etc. directly pointing to the webstore, we have years of SEO built up all pointin…

I use your app (thank you!). Did you consider setting up your own redirect URL for SEO/be more resilient to 3rd party changes like this?

That seems like a permanent fix in case you decided to change platforms as well.

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