Toward a cloud-based mobile device: Scriptable web applications as first-class citizens

Abstract

The use of applications that are downloaded on the fly has been somewhat restricted. Such applications can often only be run inside the browser, not in a fashion where they would be directly associated with operating system concepts. Consequently, their access to the resources of the hosting system has been limited, which forms a practical obstacle for numerous applications that could benefit from, for example, context information available in mobile setting. Furthermore, due to the design of the run-time systems, web applications are commonly run in the same process, and the protection from other programs within the same process is next to none. These limitations are not something that is a fundamental restriction of web technologies, but only related to the existing implementations. In this study, we show how we have implemented a mobile device, where scriptable applications that download data—and even complete web applications—from the web can be used in the same way as native applications are commonly used. Furthermore, instead of being static, the applications can be alive even when minimized, in a fashion that has been made popular by newer desktop systems, such as Windows 7. The experiences presented in the study are a result of a long-term research project where a new look to the design of a mobile device was taken. Over the project, four milestones can be identified in the work. These are in chronological order: (1) the design of the Lively for Qt system, (2) porting the Lively for Qt system to a desktop of a mobile device, (3) definition of a process model that protects applications from one another when needed, and (4) the introduction of declarative graphics support that liberates the developers from numerous low-level details.