[Aleman360]

First browsers became OS's, now you want messenger apps to become OS's?

How many layers of cruft do we need?

[catfest]

I'd hardly call it "cruft" - this is the beauty of computer systems and software - abstraction!

[Aleman360]

And now your messenger app needs a launcher, switcher, notification manager, search, per-app settings pages, etc. And maybe its own process model/scheduler, to prevent rogue apps from slowing down the messenger app. And apps within the messenger app now need to be cross-messenger-platform on top of being cross-webview-platform.

[KirinDave]

It's almost like people's expectations for software go up over time.

[pbreit]

If anything, the cruft is shrinking since you simply can't fit as much cruft into mobile.

[Aleman360]

Let me get this straight.

- The phone OS has a shell, usually written in native code.

- The messenger app runs on top of the shell, usually written on top of some type of VM.

- The messenger app contains a web browser that renders other apps, written in js.

[ChristianBundy]

Please, for your own sanity, don't even bother investigating how operating systems actually work.

[mwcampbell]

Aleman360 works for Microsoft on the Windows 10 shell. So I think it's safe to say that Aleman360 knows how operating systems actually work.

[pbreit]

I guess I was thinking of cruft differently. All the messaging and bots are reducing UIs back down to CLIs again. Which is pretty much the sparest UI there is. Except perhaps for voice, the other UI gaining traction on mobile. So, yes, the physical size of mobile devices is reducing practically all the cruft.