samir, an unknown quantity

STOP DOING APPS

* SITES were not supposed to be given apps
* YEARS OF UPDATING yet no real-world use found for putting websites on your COMPUTER
* "Yes, I want to download 200 MB of code and pictures every week for a thing I use ONCE A YEAR" – statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged

"Hello I would like you to bother me at random intervals by buzzing my phone"

They have played us for absolute fools

Sep 4, 2023 at 8:31amWeb
Show threadsamir, an unknown quantitySep 4, 2023
WebOS was correct and we all fucked up by ignoring it.
Show threadThe Long TailSep 4, 2023
@samir Do you mean WebOS (Palm, now LG via HP), or do you mean FirefoxOS (Mozilla), or do you mean something else e.g. WASMOS?
Show threadsamir, an unknown quantitySep 4, 2023
@sleepyfox I meant WebOS as created by Palm (not what it became after Palm crashed and burned) but FirefoxOS was also interesting.
Show threadThe Long TailSep 4, 2023
@samir I was on the Firefox OS bandwagon but it never really seemed to take off. There was a phone released in Brazil, and then the whole effort seemed to fizzle out.
I'm guessing it was corp politics, but I don't know the real story.
Show threadsamir, an unknown quantitySep 4, 2023
@sleepyfox I’m sure you’re right. It was a real shame; if nothing else, it would have been different.
Show threadClaudius LinkSep 4, 2023
@samir @sleepyfox
Do you have a pointer to background information to Palm WebOS?
I seemed to have totally missed the effort
Show threadsamir, an unknown quantitySep 4, 2023

@realn2s @sleepyfox It was a billion years ago, so not much. Wikipedia has a bit of info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS

Nowadays it’s the terrible interface for LG TVs. It could have been so much more.

webOS - Wikipedia

Show threadTom CarlsonSep 4, 2023
@samir OK but can we talk about ACTIVE DESKTOP
Show threadsamir, an unknown quantitySep 4, 2023
@twigathy IT DIED, AS IT SHOULD HAVE
Show threadyakkoj 🦊Sep 4, 2023
@samir also WebOS's universal instant messaging app (I've forgotten what it was called) was the first and last time I could take every chat thing I had, give the details to this WebOS app, and be able to IM anyone without asking "are they on AIM, or is it Yahoo?"
Show threadZorin =^o.o^=Sep 4, 2023

@yakkoj @samir That was GROUNDBREAKING, it was basically one chat application for everything.

Not to say it didn't have issues though. For example the AIM API required a constant, somewhat chatty TCP connection to stay open. So it would hurt battery pretty badly.

But I'm sure those issues could have been worked out.

Show threadsamir, an unknown quantitySep 4, 2023

@zorinlynx @yakkoj Awesome. We had those on the desktop beforehand, but it would have been lovely to use one on mobile too.

I think the real problem was WhatsApp and Facebook though. They took over and they were totally closed. The old services died.

Show threadMarkus MelcherSep 5, 2023
@samir and it was ovious from the very beginning. *sigh*
Show threadstirz ✅Sep 5, 2023
@samir That's why my first smart phone was the Open C from ZTE running FirefoxOS. I loved the approach and its small footprint, but it was not meant to survive in the marketplace 😔
Show threadBarbarossaSep 6, 2023
@samir apps are ok for stuff that warrants an actual application (like audio recording for example or contact tracing or maybe games, if you want to), but most certainly not for anything just displaying more or less static content. All of that should just be a website to render in your favourite web browsing application.