Comment by JoshTriplett
1 year ago
Step 1: Convince your users that they should trust a native application that runs outside of a sandbox.
Step 2: Wonder why you don't have more users.
The more applications stay confined inside a browser tab, the better.
Instead of complaining about native applications being outside of sandboxes... try looking at existing sandbox solutions. Or, hey, use an open source operating system and extend the existing sandbox solutions for whatever you think is missing.
You're trying to present an "instead of" that assumes I should want native apps and should jump through hoops to find a way to get what I want from apps that aren't designed for it. I want web apps, because they already do what I want, and keep getting better.
The right answer to "download our app!" is "no, stay in your browser tab".
> try looking at existing sandbox solutions.
I have, quite extensively; virtualization and sandboxing are things I have a great deal of expertise in. The best available application sandboxing solution that provides useful comprehensive APIs is the web. The next best solutions are mobile platforms, but that doesn't help laptops/desktops (no, iOS apps on macOS don't count), and aren't designed to let the user do things like block ads.
If an application is open, then sure, there are plenty of other options. If an application isn't open, I want it contained in a sandbox not of its own making, that it can't escape, that provides sufficiently comprehensive APIs such that interesting applications get built for it, and that keeps the user in control.
> You're trying to present an "instead of" that assumes I should want native apps
Yes.
> and should jump through hoops to find a way to get what I want from apps that aren't designed for it
What do you want which isn't designed for a native app?
> I want web apps, because they already do what I want, and keep getting better.
Perhaps. But where a web app might do what you want and get better, a native app can do what you want and get even more better.
> The best available application sandboxing solution that provides useful comprehensive APIs is the web.
You missed the next part: Or, hey, use an open source operating system and extend the existing sandbox solutions for whatever you think is missing.
> If an application is open, then sure, there are plenty of other options. If an application isn't open, I want it contained in a sandbox not of its own making, that it can't escape, that provides sufficiently comprehensive APIs such that interesting applications get built for it, and that keeps the user in control.
So you're either wanting to use and develop for Linux, or you're wanting to build apps that fit in walled gardens.
Guess which one lets you build and/or run native apps in a sandbox not of its own making, and provides comprehensive APIs, and keeps the user in control? It's not macOS or Windows, it's not iOS or Android, and it's definitely not web apps (which are the least common denominator of the list).
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