Project IDX
idx.dev
Project IDX is an entirely web-based workspace for full-stack application development, complete with the latest generative AI (powered by Codey and PaLM 2), and full-fidelity app previews, powered by cloud emulators.

What if your dev experience was entirely in the cloud?

These days, launching applications means navigating an endless sea of complexity. We felt this pain at Google, so we started Project IDX, an experimental new initiative aimed at bringing your entire full-stack, multiplatform app development workflow to the cloud.

Project IDX gets you into your dev workflow in no time, backed by the security and scalability of Google Cloud.

Project IDX lets you preview your full-stack, multiplatform apps as your users would see them, with upcoming support for built-in multi-browser web previews, Android emulators, and iOS simulators.

As a Vim fanatic, I can’t say I’ll ever feel comfortable working in a browser, but some parts of IDX seem interesting. I wonder what the implications are for proprietary code.

I do think it solves an interesting problem where you’re working on your desktop and decide to move to your laptop and continue working on the same codebase, but don’t want to commit early so you can pull down the changes to your laptop.

It reminds me vaguely of Shells.

  • @rodolfo
    0•1 year ago

    i work for a company that produces dotnet software. I’m my comments you’ll find this, and that firefox is my browser of choice. so we obviously manage access via ad, we use azure, etc. . when it comes to develop Linux native code, i fire up my vm, and I can even use the teams web version on firefox (tbh, only chat though) , so

    In my experience, Microsoft services don’t work at all on Firefox

    i don’t really know where this is coming from. would you like to elaborate?

    the idea that ms is hostile towards its customers is so apple propaganda from some 20 years ago… I mean, a very old refrain… just please stop beating this now decomposed horse. had u written something like

    ms like apple like google/alphabet are private ruthless faceless us corporations, ready to suck the soul of anything that got one

    that, i could agree on. anyways, peace, obviously.

    • @[email protected]OP
      1•1 year ago

      i don’t really know where this is coming from. would you like to elaborate?

      As I said, I don’t deal with a lot of Microsoft or Google services, though I do run my email through Microsoft Exchange. It took me roughly three hours to figure out how to download the Microsoft Office executable from the Microsoft website. I tried everything on Firefox, Brave, Chrome, even on my Mac. In the end, I needed Microsoft Edge to get it. I don’t remember the exact details because this was 2 or so years ago, but requiring a particular version of a Blink-based browser just to download Microsoft Office seems…unnecessary.

      I remember needing to use Brave for Microsoft Teams, but I could be remembering wrong. When I think of Microsoft being actively hostile toward their customers, I think of about ten years ago when Microsoft tried to prevent Xbox owners from sharing physical disk games with the Xbox One, essentially killing preowned games (not that they went through with it). Of course, Apple is an easier target than Microsoft for customer-hostile behavior. Frankly, these megacorporations all blend together for me.

      I don’t have any particular feelings about Microsoft, and after using Windows for 20 years, I don’t have any major complaints with it (from memory; it’s been a while), aside from the obvious. If there’s any particular corporation I despise, that would have to be Amazon.

      • @rodolfo
        1•1 year ago

        on mac i can’t honestly argue about anything. apple policies, practices, hw, sw, services, etc. are something i try to stay as far away as possible. dunno if it’s still the same, but as an example VLC on mac was practically nothing and broken compared to linux and win version, because, you know, quicktime (or what it was/is called the native media player). also is it possible that mac makes really hard to access ms services (or that ms makes really hard to access their services on a mac? although they already make sw for that os… mmh…)? anyways, just for completeness, on win I had no trouble managing office (again, don’t recall what that iteration was called, but it was the one that allowed you to install office in 5 machines with one license) with firefox. have a nice day

        • @[email protected]OP
          2•1 year ago

          I use mpv on macOS and haven’t had any trouble to speak of. But you might have installed VLC from the App Store, which is a common mistake—unless you’re installing Apple’s own software, you probably shouldn’t use the App Store. It usually only carries inferior versions of the software to comply with Apple’s terms, haha.

          I very rarely use Microsoft Office nowadays, but once it’s installed, it’s (mostly) fine? I’ve heard from a coworker that there are some significant missing features in some software in that suite. I just remember struggling to find the page to download the Setup.exe file. I went to the exact same page in Microsoft Edge and a download button that wasn’t there in any other browser suddenly appeared! Maddening! This was a 5 or 10-license verison, I think.

          • @rodolfo
            1•1 year ago

            well the first part is super interesting…common mistake installing from official store non brand apps!? that’s something on the line with win store. if I’m told I’d die if I do not install Inkscape through win store, well, you know, I’d either stop looking at the insides of a svg or die. not so tough of a decision ah ah