Google Chrome Cross Platform

[blu-Z8efaSeK1ezqlBn2x/YWAg at public.gmane.org (Edward Ned Harvey)]

> > can't install any apps, essentially immune to viruses and stuff.
> It'll be
> > nearly indestructible although limited in functionality.
> 
> Sure it will.  Keep dreaming.  If it allows you to do anything
> nontrivial
> (watch video, listen to music, look at pictures, run javascript) then
> there
> will be holes at some point.  

It's true that no software is perfect, and flaws (exploits) can and will
exist in everything.  However, releasing patches to close vulnerabilities is
much easier and more effective than somehow helping the world of users to
avoid installing some application that does bad stuff to their computer.
Whenever somebody asks me to help them with their virus infested computer,
usually the root cause was some webpage that says "you have malware or
something.  Click here for anti-malware" and the user naively runs it.

Since it's so common for applications and websites out there to require some
sort of plugin or installation, which requires the user to authenticate or
elevate at least once, in order to install it and use the thing...  People
generally don't even bother reading or thinking about it.  They generally
default to "Yes" "Allow" "Run" whatever pops up on their screen.

Also, with an OS and browser that are released open source (chrome), and
created with the explicit goals of being lightweight and compact, they're
chopping the code base down to a much smaller set than having the entire
Windows or OSX or Linux Distro.  So the idea of minimizing exploits is far
more achievable in the small code base.

So, of course, nothing is certain.  Anybody may disagree with me that chrome
will take off and compete with IE in the future while other browsers
diminish.  And they may be right.  But I am relatively confident that we
will all become more acquainted with chrome in the future 1-2-3 years.


> And if all you can do is look at static html,
> and can't do any of those things mentioned above, then no one will care
> or
> want to use it.

Who said anything about just static html?  Google is the biggest proponent
of html5, which means seamless saving of offline data stores, so active
webpages can be used offline, and when you connect to the net again, all the
mail you composed in offline gmail (or whatever) is automatically sent to
the server and re-synced etc.

HTML5 gives you a lot of the core features that you care about having apps
for.  Network resiliency, ability to work offline and at local disk speeds.
But it's not a full OS application layer API, so as complex as it will be,
it'll be *less* complex and easier to maintain than a whole OS.