[dgaudet]

the article seems to suggest that this is a port of the original (not web) google earth app to webassembly ... but what i'm seeing is another version of the web app. the desktop app has a zillion more features which are not available in the web app... aside from the similarity of their name, and the shared imagery, the two are completely different things. i'm bummed, i was hoping the desktop app was being given a breath of fresh air. it's one of the most important tools i use for planning hikes on infrequently climbed mountains.

[nacs]

As the article mentions, this is a port of the previously-Chrome-only NaCL-powered version of Google Earth.

I doubt the web-based versions (whether JS/WebAssembly/Nacl, etc) will ever have the feature-set of the standalone Google Earth (nor is there much monetary reason for Google to do so).

[mtgx]

Hopefully this means Google will attempt to use CPUs from vendors other than Intel on new Chromebooks. I imagine the handful or so of NaCL (not PNaCL) apps were the reason why they supported Intel CPUs on Chromebooks so much.

[grapeli23]

https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/meltdown-spectre-vulner...

In this list, I see more than 40 ARM-based models. This is very, very much compared to the list of commercially available M$ Surface. In comparison with the number of Android devices it's a drop in the sea.

[w23j]

What advantages does the desktop app have compared to the web app when planning hikes? I have used the web version before to plan hikes, but would be interested in expanding my tool set.