I kinda get the complaints (e.g. https://andregarzia.com/2020/03/private-client-side-only-pwas-are-hard-but-now-apple-made-them-impossible.html) about Apple killing PWAs but I don't feel strongly about it, largely because I've stopped caring about the web as an application platform.
We've been trying this web apps thing for over a decade, and a few things should be abundantly clear by now:
- Web apps will always have worse UX than nice native apps. The barrier to entry may be low, but so is the ceiling on what you can build
- The web fundamentally assumes a client-server paradigm no matter what you tack onto it, making it a bad fit if you care about privacy
- Anything we add to browsers can and will be used for adtech/surveillance
P.S: If you're using an OS where the only way to get native apps is through a megacorp you don't trust, then PWAs are probably not your biggest problem...
@tbernard 1000% agree, and found myself saying similar things yesterday!
I tend to find myself opposing PWAs, arguing that off you want to run arbitrary (peer-to-peer/clientside) cross-platform apps you should design a new suite of standards that is actually feasable to reimplement & secure! But I'd rather you use open standards to let me find or develop a nice app specifically for me & my choice of OS.
@tbernard Its not even about the app distribution, there doesn't exist a commercial OS that isn't from a megacorp apart from Elementary OS
Like you could get android with fdroid or windows with 3rd party installers but do you trust the OS itself?