Comments on: Are web standards the new OS APIs? http://ossguy.com/?p=461 Ideas on how we can make the world a better place, with a technical bent Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:33:20 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9-rare hourly 1 By: singpolyma http://ossguy.com/?p=461&cpage=1#comment-20495 singpolyma Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:44:28 +0000 http://ossguy.com/?p=461#comment-20495 Where you are optimistic, I'd say I'm pessimistic. While I agree with the generative properties of webdev (that's why my first serious start was there), there are many things the web cannot and should not be good at: * Efficiency (there are at least two more layers between you and the metal) * Privacy (think crypto applications, etc) * Language choice (no, ruby in silverlight does not even close to count) If you add enough low-level hooks to fix these, you lose the ease/security benefits you like so much. The web is great, but I really hope we don't make it so good that we build everything there. Computers can do better. Where you are optimistic, I'd say I'm pessimistic.

While I agree with the generative properties of webdev (that's why my first serious start was there), there are many things the web cannot and should not be good at:

* Efficiency (there are at least two more layers between you and the metal)
* Privacy (think crypto applications, etc)
* Language choice (no, ruby in silverlight does not even close to count)

If you add enough low-level hooks to fix these, you lose the ease/security benefits you like so much.

The web is great, but I really hope we don't make it so good that we build everything there. Computers can do better.

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