Normally, when dealing with Web-based real time communications (WebRTC), there's a lot to talk about in terms of development. New tools or services rapidly come out and pose the potential for major changes in the way we operate. But sometimes there's a step back, or what seems that way from the outset and a new decision on Google's part may end up slowing progress at least a bit, as Google backpedals on a recent decision to add the Pointer Events standard to Chrome.
The Pointer Events standard was developed by Microsoft, and is currently a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard. Back in January, the Blink team called it a priority move for 2014, but as half of 2014 came and went and there didn't seem to be much movement, some got concerned. The concern was capped off with the revelation that it went from a priority to no longer even being part of the overall agenda.
This is in turn raising some serious issues, particularly for developers. Google is instead sticking with Apple's model for touch input development. Word out of Google is that, for the next 10 years, all that's going to matter is touch, and that's leaving developers in a bad spot. With Pointer Events, developers would have had to write comparatively fewer lines of code to accommodate several different breeds of interaction, according to reports, as Pointer Events could have offered simple connectivity for mouse, pen, and even touch among other breeds of input. But without Pointer Events in play, there will have to be much more code written to cover that same waterfront of control options.
Essentially, Pointer Events got its start as a way to build on Touch Events, a system Apple developed back in 2007 when the iPhone first made its appearance. Touch Events had some issues, particularly in terms of working with a trackpad rather than a touch screen, so trying to get a standard based on Touch Events became difficult. It only got worse when Apple reportedly started tossing some patent hurdles into the mix, and that led to Microsoft and Mozilla joining forces in a bid to bring Pointer Events to the W3C. Popular when it emerged, it was quickly approved as a standard, but now without Google and Blink, the ultimate fate of this system may not end up so well.
However, Google appears to have cut back support for two key reasons. One, Pointer Events was popular, but not popular with Apple. Without Safari support involved, Pointer Events likely wasn't going to supplant Touch Events, so getting behind Pointer Events likely wouldn't end well anyway. Two, there were some issues of performance with Pointer Events; a hit testing model imposed a performance penalty that wasn't currently found on iOS or Android, and that Microsoft really only got around with the help of hardware acceleration.
Reports suggest that Google isn't necessarily out of Pointer Events, so much as it is out of Pointer Events for now. Another five to ten years, such a thing will be necessary, or so even Google is convinced. Still though, for the short term, that means more complex development processes, and an overall more difficult environment. Slower time to market, fewer apps produced than might have been...it's not a good situation here for anyone. With more points of connection coming up—Siri, Myo, the Xbox Kinect and more—it might have been better if Google were more ready for the future.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
