FT has published a (non technical) interview with Lars Bak on his v8 work in Chrome. It highlights the importance of the browser as the main cloud client and within browsers, the importance of the Web 2.0 (JavaScript) runtime. An extract:
<<The
sophistication of web applications is increasing much faster than the
corresponding power of the browsers. It’s like having lots of high-performance
sports cars using rutted, bumpy roads. And yet no car manufacturer has ever
invested in road building. That sort of move would, after all, benefit
competitors equally, not to mention being massively expensive. Software
development doesn’t cost as much but the competitor problem remains. But Google
says it doesn’t mind: without an improvement in browser performance, the company
argues, we all suffer.
The
ability to access complex programs through the web is known as “cloud
computing”, and Google isn’t the only one arguing that it’s the way ahead. Even
Microsoft, the company synonymous with applications and operating systems
located on the desktop, has talked about moving into “the cloud”. Steve Ballmer,
Microsoft’s chief executive, has promised an “operating system that runs in the
internet” – something he has dubbed “Windows Cloud”. But for cloud computing
truly to take off, web browsers need to be better.>>
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