Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I predicted that Java would be the key to network computing. It's platform agnostic, and Java applications can be delivered by a web server. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, Javascript matured enough to provide decent web applications. Then, in 2019, Mozilla unveiled WASI, the WebAssembly System Interface. The idea behind WASI was to bring native application like performance to applications on web browsers (and even run without the need for a browser). Unfortunately, WASI development has been a bit glacial, and it lacks support for many features you'd want in an application, like threads and IPV4/IPV6 sockets.
Enter WASIX. WASIX is an attempt to bring POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) compliance and OS native performance to web applications while remaining OS agnostic. POSIX, as you probably already know, specifies a list of standard operating system features. So WASIX basically turns your web browser into an operating system. WASIX isn't totally ready yet, but they're making good progress. You can see it bring a BASH shell and some basic command line functions to life by pointing your browser here. You'll notice it takes a little while to load, which is going to be a drawback for larger applications. But the potential of WASIX is almost impossible to deny.
Resources:
Announcing WASIX: https://wasmer.io/posts/announcing-wasix
WASIX Intro and Docs: https://wasix.org/docs
API Reference: https://wasix.org/docs/api-reference
