On 6 mar, 14:19, jamesgoode <ja...@jgoode.co.uk> wrote:
> On Mar 5, 11:01 pm, f3l <auditor...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

....

>
> In short, no. If you have a webmail account, try opening your client
> now. How long does it take to load? That's the time your computer is
> taking to parse all the Javascript, HTML, and CSS that is needed to
> display the page - which takes quite a while. Try opening a desktop
> email client. It takes about half the time, because precompiled code
> is being run more-or-less straight through the processor.

"about half the time" seems like a on-spot made-up benchmark, of
course, if you use mutt, the time might even go down even more.
to me that's not even a problem, my browser loads on startup, and
stays up there during the whole day (but offcourse, not everyone is
"me").

but I won't change my gmail to mutt even if that reduces RAM usage and
CPU (again, not the issue).

I'm very concerned with CPU and RAM, I use VIM instead of ZEND Studio
because of RAM, I keep the services load to a minimum, etc. however
the issue has never been performance.

performance becomes less important as times passes by, given the moore
law (I wonder how the multiple-proccessor arquitecture affects the
law...)

the issue is quite different, the issue is, that as a plattform, DOS
was replaced by Windows, even when Windows was just a layer on top of
DOS (originally), which replaced DOS due to simplicity to the user (I
see the no-installation-required as a way of simplifying user
experience), and extended capabilities, like Windows (duh), GUIs,
simplified configuration, better mouse suppot, etc, which were an
improvement over the console based DOS apps.
some of those still exists and are being mantained, but most of them
were replaced by their WIN version, like winTetris, winExcel, winMine,
winWhatever, etc.

I see the web as something that is leading the same process, slow and
painful, since much code will have to be re-written, but the market is
lilely to spect that the apps are always connected.
connection, for apps, is a great advantage, i.e. social apps,
comunication tools etc
in the end, everything becomes an email client.

X had the same transformation, like XEyes, Xvim, Xemacs.
then came KDE, and it was Ksomething, Ksomething-else, Kwhatever.
Java had somewhat of the same stuff going on too, like Jthis, and
Jthat.

>
> Now, think of the implications that this would have in terms of global
> warming.

As horrible as it might sound, I care not much about computers effect
on global warming.

>Computers today are powerful enough to do all of the tasks
> we want them to do; if they were to do exactly the same tasks, but
> rather than with code written in Javascript rather than C++ or
> similar, much more computing power would be required,

the same can be said about ASM and c++, altough, to a lesser degree.
C to C++ is the same too, in my opinion.

Java is just out of the question, altough recently some large PCs can
handle simple applets easilly (which surprised me, since applets were
always a browser no-no).

>and much more
> electrical power to run the computers - a major focus of the IT
> industry at present is to reduce the impact on the environment that we
> have, and using more electricity is not a good way of doing that.

I wasn't aware the IT industry was focusing on that, thank you for
your input.
here in Colombia, we should possibly be making that more of a concern,
but the It industry is too busy trying to kill the monthly dragon...

> Also, there are theoretically limitless styles for web pages - I don't
> know about you, but I like my word processor, graphics program, and
> email client to be the same colour, at least - although also having
> the same icon theme would be preferable.

Sounds like a possible client for greasemonkey?

> However, writing Javascript is much easier than C++,

VB is also easier, and gained somewhat more adepts, becauseof its
simplicity,
which supports the idea even when C/C++ has obvious advantages
performance-wise, library-wise, etc.

> and you can run
> programs through a web browser, with no installation. Maybe a more
> accurate prediction would be that in the future a compromise, such as
> semi-compiled programs written in Java, will become more common.

May God have mercy on us...

> They
> allow for faster running with minimal downloading, and Java Web Start
> can be used to start programs straight from the web, allowing for
> convenience. The SWT toolkit, and I'm sure others, allow developers
> to use the widgets supplied by theOSor display manager, keeping a
> consistent look across applications.

I guess having consisten look is important, but not as important as
other features, like ubiquity of data (I move a lot from pc TO pc, and
having my data up on the net is always a plus), simplicity, ease of
use, interactivity (for instance, flash based stuff), etc, but that's
just me, and I can't force my view of the world to anybody, nor do I
want to.