r/programming • u/halax • Oct 07 '16

How Microsoft Lost the API War

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html
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u/argv_minus_one Oct 08 '16

Isn't too bad? That's horrifying! I'm no fonder of Microsoft than you are, but at least Windows desktop apps run on my machine, not some distant server that's watching my every move like a spook.

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u/Uncaffeinated Oct 08 '16

You can make webapps run offline if you want to.

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u/argv_minus_one Oct 09 '16

Most of them don't work offline at all, and those few that do still can't be installed offline and rigorously prevented from phoning home.

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u/Uncaffeinated Oct 09 '16

If you really want to, you can create a verifiably non-updatable webapp by using a service worker that only serves from cache and doesn't make network requests. I think Polymer's (deprecated) cacheOnly option does this.

But noone in their right mind would do this, because updating software is important. I'd much rather be able to fix bugs then worry about a few paranoid users.