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Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

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Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#31

Post by patrickaljord »

zobzu wrote: post #20
jljljl wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Java is only cross platform if you use the JDK, Flash is only cross platform if you use Adobe's plugin, etc. So I don't think this is a completely funny definition of cross platform. >>It doesn’t strike me as a particular draw given that it’s at least possible, if still somewhat painful, to build truly cross-platform apps with offline capabilities. If you can achieve a cross platform experience using something that's…

TBH JDK has open, 3rd party implementations. I'm running one right now. Chrome's API don't have this. Chrome == Chromium, and there's nothing else under the sun that either have it or want it. HOWEVER - Chrome has the largest marketshare by far, thus enforcing whatever it wants. Knowing competitors will not pick up the functionality because "its really made just for Chrome, not for the open web", that's called "extin…

jdk is not open source, or wasn't at the time. So 3rd parties open implementations were required. Chrome through chromium is an open implementation by default and it's highly maintained, tested and optimized. Reimplementing it wouldn't make much sense and so would complaining about the lack of implementations.

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#32

Post by ahoge »

zobzu wrote: post #18

"they’re Google’s way of pushing the limits of the Web as a platform." Nope, they're Google's way of extinguishing non-Chrome browsers. Only Chrome/Chromium will be supported. That's called vendor lock-in - regardless of being open source.

Firefox's addons also only work with Firefox. Thunderbird and Komodo also only work on top of the Mozilla platform. Eclipse and Netbeans needs Java. A bunch of apps need Air.

You can make this work inside XULRunner if you want. You only have to write some library which provides the same API as the chrome_gen package (reading/writing files etc) and then import it instead of chrome_gen or just overwrite the package. Everything else is regular web stuff.

Anyhow, using some apps which use Chrome as runtime doesn't meant that you have to use Chrome as default browser. You only need to have it installed. Just like any other runtime you're using.

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#34

Post by archagon »

pkulak wrote: post #4
isaacwaller wrote: post #2

I don't understand Chrome apps. They require installation and only work on Chrome, so they come with none of the benefits of the web. They are slower and uglier than native Windows/Mac/Linux apps. What's the point?

They are just apps that use the ChromeOS development library (JS, HTML, CSS and some custom APIs). Think of it like Cocoa on OS X. Except they can also run in the Chrome browser on other OSes. I don't understand why people get so riled up about this.

I think people get riled up because the humble browser is rapidly turning into this: http://i.imgur.com/XNRtCGh.jpg

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#35

Post by yeukhon »

> Dart meanwhile is Google’s open-source Web programming language, which has an ultimate goal of replacing JavaScript. Polymer is Google’s library for the Web, built on top of Web Components, and “designed to leverage the evolving web platform on modern browsers.”

Go, Dart, Angular.js and now Dart and Polymer. Am I the only one seeing the next wave of confusions?

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#36

Post by svachalek »

yeukhon wrote: post #35

> Dart meanwhile is Google’s open-source Web programming language, which has an ultimate goal of replacing JavaScript. Polymer is Google’s library for the Web, built on top of Web Components, and “designed to leverage the evolving web platform on modern browsers.” Go, Dart, Angular.js and now Dart and Polymer. Am I the only one seeing the next wave of confusions?

Because the web was simple and homogenous before this?

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#37

Post by [deleted] »

yeukhon wrote: post #35

> Dart meanwhile is Google’s open-source Web programming language, which has an ultimate goal of replacing JavaScript. Polymer is Google’s library for the Web, built on top of Web Components, and “designed to leverage the evolving web platform on modern browsers.” Go, Dart, Angular.js and now Dart and Polymer. Am I the only one seeing the next wave of confusions?

[deleted]

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#38

Post by tadfisher »

archagon wrote: post #34
pkulak wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are just apps that use the ChromeOS development library (JS, HTML, CSS and some custom APIs). Think of it like Cocoa on OS X. Except they can also run in the Chrome browser on other OSes. I don't understand why people get so riled up about this.

I think people get riled up because the humble browser is rapidly turning into this: http://i.imgur.com/XNRtCGh.jpg

So browser extensions are bad now?

When can HN get off the hate train for everything new? This place is seriously starting to depress me.

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#39

Post by archagon »

tadfisher wrote: post #38
archagon wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people get riled up because the humble browser is rapidly turning into this: http://i.imgur.com/XNRtCGh.jpg

So browser extensions are bad now? When can HN get off the hate train for everything new? This place is seriously starting to depress me.

Well, most browser extensions relate to browsing. Google, on the other hand, is trying to turn the browser into an OS. This is a really big shift that may very well determine the future of computing, so I think there's plenty here for people to get legitimately angry about. Not really the same kind of "hate train" that occasionally shows up on project posts, I think.

Re: Google is building a Chrome app-based development environment

#40

Post by ams6110 »

isaacwaller wrote: post #2

I don't understand Chrome apps. They require installation and only work on Chrome, so they come with none of the benefits of the web. They are slower and uglier than native Windows/Mac/Linux apps. What's the point?

When you put it that way, they sound a lot like.... ActiveX
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