> I think they are going to avoid any web mobile changes while they are building and promoting their mobile app, which is still in beta.
In theory, I would prefer a native mobile app to a web page, for a number of reasons. First of all, a web page is ideally static, with no JavaScript and no interactivity other than POST submission — a native app provides a developer the opportunity to add behaviour and interactivity appropriately. Second, a native app can be customised to the particular needs of working on a mobile device.
But in practice I avoid apps like the plague. I no longer trust that Android will properly shield one app's data from other apps: for all I know the GitHub app will upload all of my photos and text files to Microsoft for analysis. And then so many mobile apps aren't even native mobile: they are just wrapped web pages, in which case one gets the worst of both worlds: a potentially-insecure app which can break the sandbox, and a non-native web-page interface.
I used to be really excited about smart phones, but now all I really want is something with a web browser, phone calls, Signal and offline maps.
I upvoted you, but your comment is a bit misguided re: Android, especially for HN:
- if an app has access to your photos and you didn't approve so, it's a bug. Even worse, it's a security issue and you could probably collect a nice $10k to $30k bounty.
- apps that are just web pages are bad, yes but not for the reasons you underlined.
- anything that breaks the sandbox is a security issue. Nowadays it's pretty rare, too.
- if an app asks for access to your files and can't work without it, it's a badly designed app and you'd be right to complain. IMHO this is an issue that should be addressed at two levels: 1/ the OS should be able to generate fake data to let old apps work. 2/ any newly released app that tries to work around this should be banned from stores.
In theory, I would prefer a native mobile app to a web page, for a number of reasons. First of all, a web page is ideally static, with no JavaScript and no interactivity other than POST submission — a native app provides a developer the opportunity to add behaviour and interactivity appropriately. Second, a native app can be customised to the particular needs of working on a mobile device.
But in practice I avoid apps like the plague. I no longer trust that Android will properly shield one app's data from other apps: for all I know the GitHub app will upload all of my photos and text files to Microsoft for analysis. And then so many mobile apps aren't even native mobile: they are just wrapped web pages, in which case one gets the worst of both worlds: a potentially-insecure app which can break the sandbox, and a non-native web-page interface.
I used to be really excited about smart phones, but now all I really want is something with a web browser, phone calls, Signal and offline maps.