Their track record for app talent is abysmal.
Comment on Amazon Building its Own Linux-Based OS to Replace Android
Khanzarate@lemmy.world 10 months agoIt’s possible if the OS wants to support it. Current ones limit what OS-level things web apps can do for security reasons, and pipe those higher-risk things through the gated App Store apps instead.
If an OS were using web apps as the primary method of delivering apps, web apps made for it could end up being about as good as native apps. Depends on the decisions they make and the app talent they attract.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 10 months ago
guy@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I’m doubtful that Amazon would. They tend to keep features minimal. And while web apps often can be as good, I think many developers who do not already have a web app version will not have the resources to develop one just for the Fire TV. Right now it has the benefit of supporting apps that were written for Android native and simply put on this app store too, perhaps with some effort to tweak the UI for TVs, or sideloaded. Major apps, sure, but not all the minor ones
Khanzarate@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I mean, I’m just going with the article here. React is their main system for it, and it’s a framework for JavaScript, which makes it a web app. Also, they’re specifically leaving android by making their own Linux flavor. That means they lose the benefit of apps written for android, in the same way you can’t just install an android app on Ubuntu. Heck of a lot easier to modify a Linux app to run on another flavor of Linux than it would be to convert to windows, but you still have to modify it.
guy@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s unlikely you would be making a Linux app. It’s likely that while it is technically Linux under the hood, the OS will be entirely abstracted away, interfaced by an SDK through a layer running on top that controls and sandboxes these web apps.
So if you don’t already have a web app, then you’ve got a lot of work to do.
Khanzarate@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Sure, yeah, but that’s still what they’re doing. Native android apps aren’t React, so since they’re primarily doing react apps, they’re losing android native apps. I’ve never used React Native myself, but it seems like exactly what you’re saying, and isn’t what android apps are made with.
Amazon is asking app devs to do that work, and so I have to assume that since React is the default app, that they’ll also expose more OS-level things and let the web app actually act like a normal app.
It is just a hope that they do the thing that seems like common sense, but I hope it nonetheless, because they definitely won’t be supporting android apps with it.