Panelists at a discussion about the future of web browsers at the Web 2.0 Expo sounded off about the potential merits and downfalls of HTML5. While the emerging HTML5 standard unlocks the potential for web applications, it can’t yet match native applications built for devices such as the iPhone, said panelists.
Joe Hewitt, the developer who built Facebook’s web-based iPhone app and its native app, recently posted messages on Twitter complaining about the current state of web development, asking “Why are app stores threatening the web and luring developers like me away from it? ‘Evil’ proprietary tech is blowing the web away. I want desperately to be a web developer again, but if I have to wait until 2020 for browsers to do what Cocoa [the framework that powers the iPhone OS] can do in 2010, I won’t wait.”
Alex Russell, one of the developers of Google’s Chrome browser, responded that he felt Hewitt’s pain, and his sentiments were true two years ago, but web technologies are improving rapidly, stating that “It’s not all better yet, but it’s getting better at a pace that gives me a lot of hope.”
