Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 11th Mar 2012 22:21 UTC
And thus, Microsoft bites itself in its behind with Metro. As you all surely know by now, the Metro environment in Windows 8, and its accompanying applications, need to follow a relatively strict set of rules and regulations, much like, say, applications on iOS. For one type of application, Metro has already proven to be too restrictive and limited: web browsers. Microsoft has had to define a separate application class [.docx] - aside from Metro and desktop applications - just to make third party web browsers possible for Windows 8.
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Member since:2005-11-29
Not being able to have a JIT (it's technically possible, but applications that do it would fail validation) is, by itself, enough to prevent any modern web browser from being a native Metro application.
Then this would have been an acceptable area to push for specific work on. A solution to this has implications beyond a browser, so getting some kind of brokered dynamic code generation API (For example, C# supports compiled Expression Tree's which offer limited dynamic code gen) would be more beneficial in the long run.
That's not even considering everything else. It would require a massive effort to move everything over to WinRT. It wouldn't gain you anything. The new WinRT APIs are still accessible from a hybrid WinRT / Win32 application. The replacement APIs, like networking, don't actually offer any extra features over the existing Win32 APIs.
Being conscious of mobile broadband networks is reason enough to warrant a rewrite. Firefox accommodates different networking subsystems already, and WinRT's async networking API would have been no different.
I think massive is a little overstated, but it'd require *some* effort. That's the entire point of WinRT, to be a clean break. I don't think it's asking for much, considering that the way we interact with these key things has fundamentally changed. The old rules no longer apply. So it's best to be resource conscious.
Besides, the architecture of Windows 8 requires that the Metro web browser be a hybrid application. That's just the way it works. The Metro web browser is determined by whatever the default desktop browser is. That's why, if you install Firefox on Windows 8 and set it as the default browser, the Metro version of IE 10 disappears.
If you were a pure Metro App, it wouldn't much matter which is the default browser because you'd be on the Start Menu regardless.
My point is, there's very little that was in the way of Firefox being a pure Metro Application. The upsides are immense, visibility in the Windows Store could probably go a long way towards Firefox adoption.
Member since:2011-01-28
Nelson,
Can you point to *specific* code examples so that we might talk meaningful comparisons? I'm not going to believe the new APIs are better just because microsoft claims so; they've gone down this path countless times already. So why exactly are the new incompatible APIs better?
I'm not trying to make an assertion myself, but it seems some of the claims being made here warrant stronger evidence than has been given. Event oriented app models all tend to be reimplementing more of the same ideas, I'm curious to know if there's anything substantially different this time? What's been gained by creating yet another API?
Edited 2012-03-12 06:15 UTC
Member since:2005-09-01
>Then this would have been an acceptable area to push for specific work on. A solution to this has implications beyond a browser, so getting some kind of brokered dynamic code generation API (For example, C# supports compiled Expression Tree's which offer limited dynamic code gen) would be more beneficial in the long run.
This makes you dependent on a specific MS implementation. The quality of dynamic jit engine is a major competitive advantage for particular companies (Moz, Opera, Google, Apple). MS cannot mandate that.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:38 UTC
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:30 UTC, submitted by JRepin
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 22:43 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 21:50 UTC
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:15 UTC
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:11 UTC, submitted by Drumhellar
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."More News »
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2007-09-08
Not being able to have a JIT (it's technically possible, but applications that do it would fail validation) is, by itself, enough to prevent any modern web browser from being a native Metro application.
That's not even considering everything else. It would require a massive effort to move everything over to WinRT. It wouldn't gain you anything. The new WinRT APIs are still accessible from a hybrid WinRT / Win32 application. The replacement APIs, like networking, don't actually offer any extra features over the existing Win32 APIs.
Besides, the architecture of Windows 8 requires that the Metro web browser be a hybrid application. That's just the way it works. The Metro web browser is determined by whatever the default desktop browser is. That's why, if you install Firefox on Windows 8 and set it as the default browser, the Metro version of IE 10 disappears.