I would disagree with the premise. A website and an application aren’t the same thing just because they are written in the same language (javascript). PWAs are apps in every sense of the word. Websites are not. I think the comments section on this Ars techinca article cover it pretty well, rather than re-hashing the same. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/apple-changes-course-will-keep-iphone-eu-web-apps-how-they-are-in-ios-17-4/?comments=1&comments-page=2

You understand that a PWA is just a website and nothing more, right?

This is sort of reductive. Yes, and no. It’s more than just a link on your home screen. More than just a set of html pages saved locally. It downloads the entire javascript app, the manifest, the icons, all that stuff and packages it up. When you run one of these you’d have no indication that you’re in a website. There is no browser URL bar or any of that. Only the controls in the app. It’s not really “just a website and nothing more”. It’s a javascript program running on a phones javascript engine (which is currently webkit and locked down). An app in just about every sense of the word. https://app.starbucks.com is a great example. Even works offline once you save it.

My first exposure to internet email (discounting BBS’s and fido->internet gateways) was through CompuServe. They charged for access by the minute but there was no per message fee. Everything was covered by the usage billing.

I’m using the ivory app on iOS to interact with Mastodon so I can’t say for sure. But performance has been great for me. I even pay for extra SDF services.

Same here. Native or bust. I want my apps to use common gestures, key combinations, utilize operating system features like face recognition, have common os theming, obey system preferences like dark mode, and be available offline. Any app I use on the regular must be native (not even that Electron or React Native crap).

something tech-centric.

Might I suggest SDF? They are a long running tech community that started as public UNIX access.

A tiny indie Cthulhu inspired game called “Witchmarsh” that I backed on kickstarter in <checks notes> May 2014.

I guess that’s nice. I installed cloudflared myself and get the same results that way with my pinhole. But it was an extra step.

Another +1 for namecheap here. Have a dozen or so domaions/projects with them.

AppFlowy isn’t web based?

Interesting, I feel exactly the opposite. I’m far less inclined to use a web based tool. For a backend sync/storage or admin interface to a server? Sure. But for the user interface/business logic? Let me run it locally as a native program. To each their own I guess.

Didn’t know there was a discourse. Thanks!

Cron jobs are mainly for enabling and disabling internet access by mac address on a schedule. I also like that these commercial products force search to google or duckduckgo safe search, and youtube to youtube restricted on a per user basis (which really could be done by mac address). I mean I can prob do all this with firewall rules myself. But a slick web interface would be cool.

Not to be a crusty old man or anything, but I see this more and more in tech journalism. Which makes sense, I’m getting older and the journalists are younger. Tech is a "young " scene. but there is no collective memory. Anything that existed before the writer was old enough to be aware of it simply doesn’t exist. I’ve read articles about how Facebook messenger was “the first instant messenger” as if we didn’t have IRC, ICQ, or AIM back in the day (and older ones I’m sure). Or how TikTok is successful because it’s the first platform ever to bring short form video to the masses (completely forgetting Vine). Or even here, on Lemmy, about how the fediverse is something new - the first time there is decentralized discussing (ignoring USENET for example). On one hand it’s maddening that people don’t do their homework or have knowledge, but at the same time I recognize that I am completely guilt of being blind to tech before my time as well.

I enjoy collecting cassette tapes and VHS classics. I work in big tech all day and I like the retro stuff in my downtime. Found some video tapes thrifting this last weekend and the gen-z cashier asked me what they were and were surprised there were movies on these. So I get it.