But they allow Mozilla to post whatever they want? So is it more, “you’re not allowed to post videos about products or services, unless it’s a product or service the Vimeo Staff likes?”

Jetpack, on the other hand, is similar to Ubiquity in the sense that it uses modern web 2.0 technologies for add-on development. However, it doesn’t just extend one particular aspect of the browser. In the future (again, theoretically) Jetpack will make it must easier and faster for developers to design Firefox extensions just like the ones you use everyday.

Now they are reinventing something slightly resembling the *.msi technology and NameSpaces on top of what they’ve borrowed (for free, as a donation) from Netscape.

Did you notice how Google people just DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO with the Add-ons in Chrome? They ran across this boulder and will keep climbing it FOREVER, because it’s the MAIN problem of browser and it’s security system (and the security system of OS as a whole)… Let them stew for a while, we’ll see.

Way to go, people! Good luck.

the reasons people quote when asked why they think a web apps is the way to go are “it doesn’t require installing anything” and “you can access it from anywhere”.

right.

so after a while they realize that actually they need a slightly more personalized control over their experience. perhaps even something stateful which runs locally and actually remembers things. maybe. so they come up with the idea of plugins. and now this.

let me ask you – what’s the difference between installing a plugin/javascript and installing an .exe?

1. both require installation (i.e. security implications)
2. both are bound to a single browser on a single machine (hence cannot access them from anywhere. or you can but it sucks. see *** )

the differences are:
desktop-apps are fast
desktop-apps are really flexible
desktop-apps can have really GREAT UI
desktop-apps work when you’re not connected
desktop-apps can hold tons of data
desktop-apps run on operating systems which are mature

so remind me – why do I need more browser plugins? last I checked we had operating systems, we had a way to create applications for them, and that was was better.

***
yes you can sync plugins across browsers – but these sync technologies assume certain things about your plugins. E.g. that they are few and very light (i.e. don’t carry a whole lot of data with them). So the same technology could be applied to desktop apps which perform the equivalent functionality.