> It probably still has the same mission. I'm only saying "was" because I'm no longer on the project. I quit Google in June 2021 for a sabbatical and returned last week working on something very different, Fuchsia!
I don't know your background, but this sort of discussion predates the web by quite a bit, though the labels, affordances, and other factors change considerably due to spatial versus temporal constraints.
In HCI (and later on, usability) circles, these were the Multi Document Interface, Single Document Interface, Tabbed Document Interface, and (largely informally) IDE interface debates: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-document_interface
In fact during the days of the early web, quite a lot of experimentation and development was done on making browser windows (especially chromeless ones) participate more fully in the desktop environment as objects such as floating toolbars and widgets. Other efforts were focused on expanding the browser to displace the desktop OS (eg. the Netscape "webtop", or more recently, Chrome Apps).
The details of the pro vs con arguments aren't exactly repeated, but like history, they certainly rhyme, and are similarly affected quite deeply by the capabilities and defaults of the underlying platform, like whether the desktop environment has a global menu bar.
I don't know your background, but this sort of discussion predates the web by quite a bit, though the labels, affordances, and other factors change considerably due to spatial versus temporal constraints.
In HCI (and later on, usability) circles, these were the Multi Document Interface, Single Document Interface, Tabbed Document Interface, and (largely informally) IDE interface debates: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-document_interface
In fact during the days of the early web, quite a lot of experimentation and development was done on making browser windows (especially chromeless ones) participate more fully in the desktop environment as objects such as floating toolbars and widgets. Other efforts were focused on expanding the browser to displace the desktop OS (eg. the Netscape "webtop", or more recently, Chrome Apps).
The details of the pro vs con arguments aren't exactly repeated, but like history, they certainly rhyme, and are similarly affected quite deeply by the capabilities and defaults of the underlying platform, like whether the desktop environment has a global menu bar.