Google vs. Microsoft On the Desktop 222
Michael_Curator writes "Gary Edwards, president of the now-defunct Open Document Foundation, helps sort out the challenges Google faces displacing Microsoft on the desktop, pitting the strengths of Microsoft's proprietary stack against the developer candy that HTML 5 represents."
Who still listens to these two clowns? (Score:1, Informative)
Two guys gave themselves a fancy name ("Open Document Foundation"), which opened them doors to some panel discussions. They don't have any role in ODF standardization. All they did in the last couple of years was to act like little MS shills. Last time they attacked the Open Document Standard [slashdot.org] their role was quickly uncovered. [slashdot.org]
Their insignificant role does not deserve any attention, but as they trolled their way into mainstream media IBM's chief ODF architect Rob Weir was bothered enough to discuss the technical merits of their "contribution" [robweir.com].
Gary Edwards? (Score:5, Informative)
Hey, uh, wasn't he one of the ones that threw a tantrum (along with sam and marbux) when he didn't get his way with preserving Microsoft "dark matter" (undocumented RTF encoding) in ODF and then proclaimed that ODF is doomed to fail and all that nonsense when everyone told him to stuff it where it doesn't shine??
I am shocked. Simply shocked to see that he's extolling Microsoft's "virtues".
Nothing to see here, folks, just another softie trying to sabotage open standards by throwing chairs at it.
--
BMO
Re:Take away the cloud (Score:3, Informative)
There is nothing amazing about applications in a browser, it is not necessary, and while it is convenient at times (at a computer that is not your own), when available a native code app will usually do the same job but "better".
I think you already know this, but it's not about doing it better: It's about ubiquity.
While I agree it's another "layer of abstraction", the point of using a browser is access from anywhere / anything. Whether it's a desktop, netbook, phone, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, CISC, RISC etc.. you can potentially run whatever it is and have the same exact same experience on any platform. That's pretty cool.
By using native applications, you just don't get that ubiquity. People also want stuff that just works... Users don't want to install different versions of the same app on different devices and deal with the occasional issues of not having the correct libraries, UI differences and so on. It's also a terrible pain for the developers: Who wants to maintain, port and compile dozens of versions of the same product?
With the idea of native apps not being practical for the purpose of ubiquity, one would probably point to cross-platform frameworks, like Java or GTK. That's fine and good, but these things require some "coaxing", if you will, especially in the UI department. A really simple app might be work just fine, but you have to be careful about using OS-specific functions and more complex programs sometimes need to be changed substantially. Applications that use web browser technologies don't really suffer from this.
So, how do we keep the experience exactly the same on every system, every device, everywhere? Why not use well supported web technologies like HTML, CSS, Ajax, Javascript, Flash etc? To me, it just seems like a natural extension of that greater desire to be "ubiquitous". There are certainly limitations and a native app will be faster, but is it better? I think that depends on how you define "better". Functionality and compatibility are the main concern of web apps and to address these things, using the browser as a platform of sorts... well... it makes a lot of sense.
Re:Take away the cloud (Score:4, Informative)
1) From a firefox user's PoV - it looks like "Opening a Program from a Website" which is what everyone keeps yelling at them NOT to do.
2) It took me more than 5 minutes to download a simple program that just draws 3D spheres (from your link). Yeah I have a crappy connection, but I doubt "corporate" java apps are going to be small (and I've seen them being updated every few weeks - which means everyone has to redownload). They're fine over the LAN, but this Cloud thing...
FWIW, I've tried the 4K java game stuff and many are great (and download quickly), but there are very few java programmers who can and will do that for "office/corporate apps".
Astroturf from Gary Edwards (Score:3, Informative)
Correction... (Score:4, Informative)
And IE doesn't do that prompting, whereas Firefox does (at least on my setup).
Re:Take away the cloud (Score:4, Informative)
The cloud is the new THIN client. The browser is the new OS for said thin client.
while different browsers do implement things differently, there is a standards running the whole show and an approval process. previous thin clients were proprietary in one form or another.
Re:Take away the cloud (Score:3, Informative)
Surely you must have meant to say "... huge step forward for admins".
What many (most?) application developers forget is that applications exist to make end users more productive, not admins, and there are precious few web based apps that are better than their desktop counterparts.
Re:Take away the cloud (Score:1, Informative)
From where I sit, "the cloud" looks like a huge glob of poison gas.
That's not the cloud... cowboy neal had chili for dinner last night :(