Drowning in Web App Formats

With the rise of HTML5, (and the web being, arguably, the best defined MVC system around) there has been an explosion of technologies wanting to take advantage of it for apps, notably:

• Firefox RT
• HTML5 Webapps
• Chrome Apps
• W3C widgets
• Opera Apps
• Tizen Apps
• Microsoft Windows 8 Style Apps
• PhoneGap

Firefox RT, Chrome Apps, W3C widgets/Tizen Apps, and Opera Apps all fall in to a simple group consisting of variations on a theme. They're all HTML, CSS, and JS files packed in a zip file with a manifest. The only real difference is the manifest format (excluding some features where APIs are different).

My point is that if someone cared to create a small utility they could make development much simpler for the rest of us wanting to write true cross-platform applications. Perhaps Tizen for desktops. In the meantime, keep an eye on my github, as I may have a good reason to write something that can convert sites to standalone apps.