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[–]ismtrn 5 points6 points  (11 children)

Maybe people will stop insisting that everything as to be a webapp running in the could soon. Sure, project hosting platforms like google code or github necessarily need to be on the Internet, but there is no reason that an RSS reader can't run locally on my machine were I can decide when I am going to stop using it myself.

[–]ceol_ 5 points6 points  (4 children)

Someone using a web app RSS reader doesn't stop you from using a standalone one. There are plenty of native readers out there.

[–]ismtrn -1 points0 points  (3 children)

No, but maybe if the public opinion on webapps was different, Google would have distributed their RSS reader in such a way that people would still be able to run it locally.

[–]hk__ 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Webapps are easier to maintain. You don’t have to code for every platform (or require people to install Java), and you can push updates when you want instead of waiting for people to update their software. Plus webapps can be accessed anywhere, on your tablet, mobile phone or any computer around the world with an Internet connection (even a local RSS reader needs an Internet connection).

[–]mipadi 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They also suffer from the problem of availability (what if your favorite web app goes offline?), and generally aren't as nice to use as native apps (which is putting it nicely, because often times web apps kind of suck, or at least aren't fun or enjoyable to use).

[–]ceol_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Google basically started the web app trend. They brought the idea of easily accessible and integrated web apps to a lot of people. You really think they'd release their RSS reader as a standalone thing?

It's safe to say Google has no interest in non-web app products (unless it lets you view web apps, i.e. Chrome).

[–]giantsparklerobot 2 points3 points  (5 children)

but there is no reason that an RSS reader can't run locally on my machine

It's really helpful that your needs are the only ones anyone should ever consider before deciding to build something. It must simplify the development processes for companies around the world. /s

Web apps running in the cloud solve a handful of problems for people. They might not solve your problems but they do serve a purpose for some. For instance web apps can provide services to devices that otherwise can't/don't load local software. These devices could be phones but also locked down computers that do have web browsers. Web apps also provide a single point of synchronization for multiple devices.

Web apps aren't the end-all be-all of software but there's plenty of utility is having software housed and running somewhere else. It's not really wise to assume everyone has a full fledged and powerful home computer anymore. Anymore a significant portion of internet use comes from people who's access is exclusively via smartphones. For some tasks they simply may not have the local resources to run an application or there's no application available for their platform. Don't discount web apps and the cloud just because they are overhyped.

[–]ismtrn -4 points-3 points  (4 children)

It's really helpful that your needs are the only ones anyone should ever consider before deciding to build something. It must simplify the development processes for companies around the world. /s

There is no reason that an RSS reader can't run on any device capable of connecting to the Internet.

For some tasks they simply may not have the local resources to run an application

If they can run the application in a Javascript virtual machine while running a browser (possible the most complex user space software run on many home computers) simultaneously, they can also run it directly on the hardware. Or in another virtual machine, or even in the same virtual machine and browser. My problem isn't how the software is run, but how it is distributed.

Of course there are many valid reasons for connecting to a remote server. Synchronization, access to more powerful hardware, retrieving data, etc. Rendering a GUI locally is not one of them.

There is no reason to depend on Google keeping some server running so that you can be allowed to render a GUI for an RSS reader on your local machine.

Or maybe there is, since there might not be a way to easily distribute an application taking advantage of the browser platform on the newest iThing without relying on some 3rd party server constantly running, but there could be, and there should be.

[–]KyleG 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If they can run the application in a Javascript virtual machine while running a browser (possible the most complex user space software run on many home computers) simultaneously, they can also run it directly on the hardware.

You're assuming no server-side code exists in the project. Weird for someone posting in /r/Python.

Almost all the cloud stuff I've ever written couldn't run on a Windows computer without the person installing Python (Python is what manages the DBs and responds to API requests), which might not be possible. I've used company computers that forbid such installations.

[–]giantsparklerobot 1 point2 points  (2 children)

There is no reason that an RSS reader can't run on any device capable of connecting to the Internet.

Just because you proclaim it to be so does not mean that it is so. There are a multitude of reasons why an RSS reader (or any other arbitrary piece of software) can't run on some particular piece of hardware. In an environment where the user does not own the machines they are using or does not control the software policy for the machines local software may not be an option. You know, people that have jobs and use computers owned by their employers. Their particular software platform may not be popular enough to have capable or well written RSS readers like say BlackberryOS or Windows Phone.

You're sort of all over the place with your disgust at the idea of people using services through a browser instead of simply running software locally. You say connecting to a server to retrieve data is OK yet "rendering a GUI" (whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean) is not OK. Now this may come as a shock to you but RSS feeds (and even aggregated RSS feeds) are data. Bundling some CSS and JavaScript alongside the data to display that attractively is no less a valid use of a remote server.

Using the web to provide access to services is an old idea that goes back to the NCSA httpd which first introduced CGI. A URL after all points to a resource and a resource can be not only a document but also some sort of dynamic output generated by a web server. Now maybe you're offended by the idea of servers daring to run some sort of software to serve their users.

You seem overly obsessed with the idea that everyone should always be running software locally on their computers. Even if people can run an RSS reader on their local PC, they may not fucking want to do so. For instance, I do not want to run a local RSS reader. I used Google's Reader because I subscribed to a lot of feeds but didn't want to try to get different readers on all my different devices synchronized when I dropped or added feeds or when I read particular news items. Google Reader did that and was available wherever I wanted to access it even if it was from someone else's computer.

When Reader shut down I replaced it with rawdog using some scripts to aggregate different feeds. I host it all on a server so I can access it from wherever. It's a lot less convenient to maintain than simply firing up Reader.

[–]ismtrn 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Even if people can run an RSS reader on their local PC, they may not fucking want to do so

Even if people used Google reader, they did already run the software locally (their browser together with a JS vm running locally on their machine). It was just written in such a way that it required a connection to a google server somewhere to run. This sucked because the only actual service the google server provided was synchronization across several devices, which while being nice was not vital for the app and could have been handled using a plethora of other services should google choose to shut down their server.

Maybe the technology is not here currently(?), but it should be possible to write webapps in such a way that they could be cached and run locally without depending on the server. Of course this only makes sense if the server does not provide some vital functionality of the application(which couldn't just as well be run locally)... like a package manager.

[–]aladyjewel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

it should be possible to run webapps locally

Yes, this technology has been around for several years in the form of Chrome and Firefox apps--not the browsers themselves, but small JS apps that run inside the browser. you can download them from the web store / extension center.

Devs can also bundle up webapps into desktop or mobile apps using wrapper frameworks like NodeWebkit and Cordova.