The web browser is the single greatest software application ever written. It's not even close.
@codinghorror late on this (had it bookmarked), but I've always recalled and loved this quote from Douglas Crockford. Considering the madness that takes place under the hood, browsers are asked to do gawd's work - and well, every time we type a url, then hit "GO".
@codinghorror Accounting systems peer over the top of their paperwork at you, before going back to running the entire fabric of the economy.
@codinghorror Agreed! We’re trying to make it better at the @browsercompany, if you have any hopes, wishes, and desires for what else it could be!
@codinghorror Excel is pretty close. How many $ trillions worth of businesss runs on it? How much iteration have spreadsheets undergone in the past 4 decades, with the most influential of beta testers with the highest-$ feature requests?
@codinghorror Word processing. You'd never have a browser without the line editors and dedicated word processors of the 1970s.
@codinghorror Miniclip.com was the first indicator of this
@codinghorror Dating apps are second most influential after the browser. The extent to which they've completely shifted the culture of relationship and dating in such a short period of time is mind boggling.
@codinghorror How is it superior to the operating system concept? Browser is a meta operating system, and not much more. In that regards, I think we could say it is the greatest third party extensibility (in the way it is extending the operating system) system that is ever written.
@codinghorror Not bad, but operating systems definitely greater
@codinghorror Saw an app for Mac the other day that let you lock the keyboard so you could clean without typing random stuff, it was a steal at £19.95 for a lifetime license! I was just about to buy it, then I thought “wow my keyboard is dirty, I should turn my Mac off and clean it” didn’t buy
@codinghorror People got tired of arguing about vi versus emacs.
@codinghorror Isn't it like saying an OS is the greatest software?
@codinghorror And by extension javascript is the single greatest language ever written. It's not even close.
@codinghorror Agreed, along with the rest of the web which can be seen as a single decentralized application authored by numerous people and orgs and no central control. The browser is the OS/application framework/API for that other app.
@codinghorror @danielcoloma If I had to say one .... Emacs
@codinghorror It made the 2 critical features obvious to anyone: FORWARD via hyperlink /👉 UNDO (which makes every experimental Forward click safe) via 🔙 So anyone could immediately use the web and thus the internet. Gopher (www predecessor) lacked these & never took off.
@codinghorror most complex but also most useful sometimes "unopinionated" design decisions make things harder for everyone. The internet would be a lot different if CSS was only a user-style instead of something forced onto all users who visit a site
@codinghorror I totally agree. Everything that one requires are available in form of web apps, play music, write code, work on doc, spreadsheet, edit photos, everything can be done through browser alone.
