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by anderspitman 2646 days ago
For sure, but it would be nice if there were alternative ways to run "no-need-to-install" apps without bringing all the weight of a browser with it. There's a large class of apps that don't need to link out to other URLs, don't need CSS engines (if they just need opengl/vulkan for example), and might not need as strict of security as a web page.
1 comments
kllrnohj 2646 days ago
> There's a large class of apps that don't need to link out to other URLs, don't need CSS engines (if they just need opengl/vulkan for example), and might not need as strict of security as a web page.

Yes, there are, and those uses are already solved with Steam, the Windows Store, Play Store, App Store, etc....

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hutzlibu 2646 days ago
"Steam, the Windows Store, Play Store, App Store, etc...."

And there's also your answer. All those are fragmented, proprietary plattforms.

WASI is not.

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kllrnohj 2646 days ago
No, they aren't. They are a variety of distribution mechanisms, which WASI is not and does not contain.

Also, WASI is literally fragmented by design. It does not have a singular target, it instead is a bunch of modules (aka, shared libraries), and what modules you get and how they behave is up to the platform.

Real native has already long since solved distribution, dependency management, and portable abstractions. WASI does not appear to be doing anything interesting, new, or novel here.

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hutzlibu 2645 days ago
Which nonproprietary plattform can I use today, to reach the widest audience?
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kllrnohj 2645 days ago
Not a useful question to ask or answer, as the answer is either anything or nothing depending on how nitpicky you want to get or where you feel like drawing an arbitrary line.

For example do you consider C++ on Windows to be a proprietary platform, even though C++'s STL isn't proprietary? If so, then WASI on Windows must also be proprietary, no? And if you don't consider C++ to be proprietary, then, you know, you can pick just about anything. They almost all have a standard library that abstracts OS differences and are generally portable.

All that aside, .NET Core is MIT license and already exists. So you can literally be non-proprietary, multi-platform, single-binary today with a mature ecosystem, language & library support, and tooling.

Also in the context of shipping apps let's not forget that this isn't really viable on the 2 biggest consumer app platforms, iOS (no JIT) & Android (majority APIs require Java interop), and for games it's also not viable on the other dominant platforms in those markets - Xbox One & PS4.

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hutzlibu 2645 days ago
With C++ you have to compile to a specific plattform. So yes, that works, but is different to WASI, where you compile once and can deploy whereever a runtime exists.

And apart from that, yes .NET is the only alternative I see today. But you don't see the benefits, of a new lower level option, entering the field?

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