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Windows 10 Will Soon Get Progressive Web Apps To Boost the Microsoft Store (techradar.com)

The next major update to Windows 10 will bring Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to the Microsoft Store. PWAs are websites (or web apps) which are implemented as native apps, and delivered just like a normal app through Windows 10's store. According to TechRadar, "The big advantages are that no platform-specific code is required, allowing devs to make apps that run across different platforms, and that PWAs are hosted on the developer's server, so can be updated directly from there (without having to push updates to the app store)." The other benefit for Microsoft is that they will be getting a bunch of new apps in Windows 10's store. From the report: As Microsoft explains in a blog post, these new web apps are built on a raft of nifty technologies -- including Service Worker, Fetch networking, Push notifications and more -- all of which will be enabled when EdgeHTML 17 (the next version of the rendering engine that powers the Edge browser) goes live in Windows 10 in the next big update. PWAs can be grabbed from the Microsoft Store as an AppX file, and will run in their own sandboxed container, without needing the browser to be open at all. As far as the user is concerned, they'll be just like any other app downloaded from the store. Microsoft says it is already experimenting with crawling and indexing PWAs from the web to pick out the quality offerings, which it will draft into the Microsoft Store. The firm has already combed through some 1.5 million web apps to pick out a small selection of PWAs for initial testing. As well as discovering apps via web crawling, developers will also be able to submit their offerings directly to Microsoft for approval.

23 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds fun by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and that PWAs are hosted on the developer's server, so can be updated directly from there

    I can't imagine any way that these apps would be compromised by hackers... not a single one!

    --
    Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
    1. Re:Sounds fun by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And if an update removes a feature or makes it unusable for you, too bad. But then, that's the Windows 10 philosophy.

    2. Re: Sounds fun by peragrin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It gets better, they reinvented ActiveX. And everyone knows ActiveX was always secure trustworthy, and never crashed windows.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    3. Re:Sounds fun by exomondo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and that PWAs are hosted on the developer's server, so can be updated directly from there

      I can't imagine any way that these apps would be compromised by hackers... not a single one!

      How is that different to any website or webapp?

    4. Re:Sounds fun by sg_oneill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How is that different to any website or webapp?

      Websites are sandboxed to hell and back. When it works (which is not always) a website cant break out of the browser and mess with your PC.

      But these HTML as faux-native apps can. The Node.js runtime has all the same access any native app has, can write and read from your file system, hook to arbitrary dll/dylib/.so libs, network card access, and beyond.

      Its a *huge* difference, especially if the app is linking off to random-ass CDNs to pull code off the net every time you open a window.

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    5. Re:Sounds fun by exomondo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Websites are sandboxed to hell and back. When it works (which is not always) a website cant break out of the browser and mess with your PC.

      But these HTML as faux-native apps can. The Node.js runtime has all the same access any native app has, can write and read from your file system, hook to arbitrary dll/dylib/.so libs, network card access, and beyond.

      No, they're web apps, hosted on servers run in a sandboxed "browser" on your local machine. You're not running a node server on your own machine.

    6. Re:Sounds fun by Calydor · · Score: 2

      Except when you run a website in eg. Chrome, you have a lot of (we assume) really smart people keeping Chrome from having serious exploits.

      If you run a website from JimBob's AutoParts in its own app that JimBob's third cousin grabbed the code for off the net you have NO IDEA how well it's sandboxed if at all.

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    7. Re:Sounds fun by mobby_6kl · · Score: 2

      But the "app" is probably just some prepackaged JS running in the Edge engine, or something like that. JimBob's not going to be implementing his own rendering or scripting engine.

  2. Sounds like more bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Frankly, I'm webbed out. I'm apped out. I'm tired of being the dumping ground for corporate bullshit.

    Comparitively, gopher and ftp weren't that bad at all.

    Seriously.

  3. Leave it to Microsoft by taustin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    to invent yet another innovative way to distribute malware.

    Push notifications

    And spam.

    Any bets of whether or not the push notifications will work whether the app is running or not?

    1. Re:Leave it to Microsoft by brix · · Score: 4, Informative

      Leave it to Microsoft

      Your "ire" is a bit misplaced. Actually, PWAs are endorsed and will be supported by every major browser vendor other than Apple. They've been covered here on Slashdot multiple times over the last few years. One of those articles mentioned that Google has deprecated the Chrome App Store because they also believe PWAs are the right way to deliver Web apps to the desktop.

      Push notifications

      And spam.

      Apologies in advance, I'm going to try to say this nicely, but have you been living under a rock (or not upgraded your browser) for the last 3 years? The W3C Push API and WHATWG Notifications API have been around for at least that long. And I would be really surprised if you haven't seen a website ask permission to send notifications.

      Any bets of whether or not the push notifications will work whether the app is running or not?

      A quick search shows that Chrome implemented the ability for a website to send notifications even after the tab is closed almost 3 years ago in Chrome 42. I'd be really surprised if Edge didn't implement this capability for PWAs and already support the ability for the user to disable them on a site-by-site basis.

      I'm looking forward to PWAs, personally. At the moment, there are pretty much no Google apps (Gmail, etc.) in the Microsoft App Store. This will change that. Besides Google, I'd expect most top-tier web applications will also release as a PWA.

      Sure, there will be plenty of junk apps, but how is that different than any app store (iOS, Android, etc.) today? You have to wade through a lot of junk on any platform, but that doesn't mean the concept isn't useful. Having these in the Windows Store at least allows user ratings to help filter out the bad ones.

    2. Re:Leave it to Microsoft by taustin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Leave it to Microsoft

      Your "ire" is a bit misplaced. Actually, PWAs are endorsed and will be supported by every major browser vendor other than Apple. They've been covered here on Slashdot multiple times over the last few years. One of those articles mentioned that Google has deprecated the Chrome App Store because they also believe PWAs are the right way to deliver Web apps to the desktop.

      Google is an advertising company ("If you're not paying for the service, you're not the customer, you're the product."). Of course they believe that technology that allows them to shove more advertising down your throat is the only possible future.

      Push notifications

      And spam.

      Apologies in advance, I'm going to try to say this nicely, but have you been living under a rock (or not upgraded your browser) for the last 3 years? The W3C Push API and WHATWG Notifications API have been around for at least that long. And I would be really surprised if you haven't seen a website ask permission to send notifications.

      Indeed. In order to get the one notification a week you want, you have to allow dozens of ads a day as well. If not today, then tomorrow.

      Any bets of whether or not the push notifications will work whether the app is running or not?

      A quick search shows that Chrome implemented the ability for a website to send notifications even after the tab is closed almost 3 years ago in Chrome 42.

      See above about Google being an advertising company. That is, in fact, one of the bigger reasons why I don't use Chrome much.

      I'd be really surprised if Edge didn't implement this capability for PWAs and already support the ability for the user to disable them on a site-by-site basis.

      I'm looking forward to PWAs, personally. At the moment, there are pretty much no Google apps (Gmail, etc.) in the Microsoft App Store. This will change that. Besides Google, I'd expect most top-tier web applications will also release as a PWA.

      Sure, there will be plenty of junk apps, but how is that different than any app store (iOS, Android, etc.) today? You have to wade through a lot of junk on any platform, but that doesn't mean the concept isn't useful. Having these in the Windows Store at least allows user ratings to help filter out the bad ones.

      And the clever companies will put it in the app store, pay grunt labor in India to put in a pile of good reviews, then alter their PWA - without having to go through any review process - to blast spam or malware out constantly. Or some well intentioned hacker will put together something truly useful, and it will get so popular they can't handle it any more, and they'll sell it to some unscrupulous con artist who will do that. You know, like happens now for browser plug-ins and app store apps.

      And while Microsoft is not, currently, primarily an ad company, the harder they push into "software as a service" territory, they more of an ad company they will become. They may or may not realize it yet, but it will inevitably happen. There's too many billions of dollars to be had that way. It'd be irresponsible towards their shareholders not to.

      PWA is a plan to make it easier and more convenient for ad companies like Google to shove more and more and more advertising into people's faces. Things that like have made the web nearly unusable already.

  4. Re:Stop flogging a dead horse (PWA) by taustin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I like having a computer that I can use when not connected to the internet, 'forever'. Not one that can't deal with that.

    Then Windows is not for you. I'll be very surprised if it continues to even boot without an internet connection for much longer.

  5. I hate these things with a passion! by wikthemighty · · Score: 2

    Why should I waste space on my phone with what is literally a copy of a website?

    And probably a copy of the shitty mobile website at that...

    --
    "There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
    1. Re:I hate these things with a passion! by edtice1559 · · Score: 2

      These are desktop apps. And the reason you would "waste space" is to avoid downloading each and every time. You may not be aware of this but your browser currently has a "cache" that already wastes space in this way.

  6. Re: Stop flogging a dead horse (PWA) by sconeu · · Score: 3, Informative

    Linux

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  7. Re:PWA: new name, old concept? by brix · · Score: 4, Informative

    True, but both Firefox and Chrome have abandoned their former proprietary methods of creating web "apps" and are also moving to the PWA spec. So maybe we can say "old concept, new standard"?

  8. Re:Stop flogging a dead horse (PWA) - offline use by SirCowMan · · Score: 2

    No sir, I'm not sure which operating systems do need to connect to the internet on boot... but most certainly not most linux flavours, where it is also trivial to blank the default gateway from a terminal and have full local access --- no internet.

    --
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  9. What Linux distro needs Internet at boot? by tepples · · Score: 4, Informative

    Anonymous Coward wrote:

    ALL operating systems (including Linux) ordinarily need to connect to the internet during boot.

    I don't know what distribution you're running, but I haven't noticed this with Debian or Xubuntu. Both boot up and let me launch an IDE just fine while I'm a passenger in a moving vehicle without access to a cell phone on a tethering plan. Sure, it needs an occasional connection to download security updates (and provide optional telemetry through popularity-contest), but not the connection during every boot that you mention.

  10. Re:No platform-specific code is required? by DavidRawling · · Score: 2

    Maybe next time do a ten second Google search before you rant. You'll look better informed (and not foolish). Because, you see, They're part of the HTML5 spec and almost every current browser or platform supports them. But hey - boo Microsoft etc.

  11. Re: Stop flogging a dead horse (PWA) by apoc.famine · · Score: 4, Informative

    Go anywhere that sells Dell stuff and check out their Precision laptops. Then go to their site, choose developer or small business, and get it pre-loaded with ubuntu. I'm guessing that it's niche enough that they won't have ubuntu to demo in stores, so your options are either to just check out the hardware running windows, or, if they are permissive enough, potentially bring a ubuntu boot stick with you.

    --
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  12. Re:Progressive? by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are essentially web sites where JavaScript and some relatively modern browser APIs are used to store parts of the site locally on the device after it's been downloaded. This allows the site to "load" again later even if the user is offline or has a bad connection, to cache some data on the client side, to store pending data ready to be uploaded automatically when a good connection is available again, etc. You can also do things like adding an icon to load the site to your home screen on a mobile device. In essence, you can create something that is really a web site, but enhanced to work more like a native app.

    Android/Chrome has supported most of the relevant technologies for quite a while and pretty much all of them in recent versions. Apparently Edge is getting there now too. iOS/Safari is a long way behind.

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  13. Re:Stop flogging a dead horse (PWA) - offline use by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 2
    It is not clear whether your instructions are for Linux or Windows, but I routinely install various Linux (and BSD) versions from CD without an Internet connection - I have two laptops which don't have networking hardware of any kind. You can Install Windows95 without the Internet if you wish, and Solaris up to at least version 10. Some Ubuntu versions won't even install correctly if you DO try to connect to the internet (Mostly 14.x versions, ISTR).

    I have no idea about Windows10, since I am not stupid enough to use it.

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