<story><title>Compiling to WebAssembly: It’s Happening</title><url>https://hacks.mozilla.org/2015/12/compiling-to-webassembly-its-happening/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gnuvince</author><text>And I don&amp;#x27;t understand why.  Take the two most popular mobile platforms, iOS and Android: people there routinely download and install new applications and typically never interact with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or Instagram via their browsers.  Why should the situation be different on the desktop?  I feel that the efforts should not be going into making the browser into an OS that can run general-purpose software, but rather getting a packaging system that is cross-platform and easy for users to use.  My own preference would be something based off of Nix so that you can avoid many problems related to library versions and whatnot, but anything where a user could be pretty much guaranteed that if he clicks &amp;quot;install&amp;quot;, he&amp;#x27;ll be able to use his application in the next couple of minutes.</text></item><item><author>andrewchambers</author><text>Web browsers are turning into giant, poorly designed operating systems. My current operating system can already run binaries, this is reinventing the wheel in a massively over engineered way.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pcwalton</author><text>&amp;gt; Why should the situation be different on the desktop? I feel that the efforts should not be going into making the browser into an OS that can run general-purpose software, but rather getting a packaging system that is cross-platform and easy for users to use.&lt;p&gt;Cross platform is a red herring. The iOS and Android app stores are not cross platform. Ease of use is also increasingly a red herring. The Windows and Mac app stores have been around for a long time and are quite easy to use. Yet they have not ushered in a shift away from Web apps on the desktop.&lt;p&gt;I think we should be looking at why Web apps have been successful on the desktop rather than pretending they have no advantages.</text></comment>
<story><title>Compiling to WebAssembly: It’s Happening</title><url>https://hacks.mozilla.org/2015/12/compiling-to-webassembly-its-happening/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gnuvince</author><text>And I don&amp;#x27;t understand why.  Take the two most popular mobile platforms, iOS and Android: people there routinely download and install new applications and typically never interact with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or Instagram via their browsers.  Why should the situation be different on the desktop?  I feel that the efforts should not be going into making the browser into an OS that can run general-purpose software, but rather getting a packaging system that is cross-platform and easy for users to use.  My own preference would be something based off of Nix so that you can avoid many problems related to library versions and whatnot, but anything where a user could be pretty much guaranteed that if he clicks &amp;quot;install&amp;quot;, he&amp;#x27;ll be able to use his application in the next couple of minutes.</text></item><item><author>andrewchambers</author><text>Web browsers are turning into giant, poorly designed operating systems. My current operating system can already run binaries, this is reinventing the wheel in a massively over engineered way.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>TraderDuck</author><text>&amp;gt; people there routinely download and install new applications and typically never interact with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or Instagram via their browsers. Why should the situation be different on the desktop?&lt;p&gt;Er, because that would be really silly.&lt;p&gt;I like reading HN from time to time. I would never install an app, because I don&amp;#x27;t use it frequently enough. I definitely would never go through the pain of installing a HN app every time I wanted to read HN. I really doubt I&amp;#x27;m alone or even abnormal in that regard.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s the beauty of a browser: I can be reading HN in under a second when I want to, with no cluttering of my desktop just so I can read HN from time to time.</text></comment>