Mozilla intends to bring to the web what apps brought to the mobile sphere with Open Web Apps—but they also seem to be doing it in response to Google’s announcement that they would open their own Chrome Web Store. They intend to generate a vast architecture for the development, storage, distribution, and social interaction of these Open Web Applications.

Open Web Applications build upon this HTML5 foundation by adding easy launching, an explicit installation flow, and verification of user registration between stores and applications (enabling proof of purchase). This basic set of interactions requires no new browser features and should work in any modern web browser. Richer interactions are also described which would be made possible by native browser support (that may be built-in, or supplied via browser extensions).

Using this system, a user can navigate through a collection of applications in a store or directory, select one to install, provide payment information if needed, and receive the installed application into a “dashboard” that holds all of his or her applications. When the user subsequently launches the application (by mouse, keyboard, or followed link), the application should be able to verify the user’s ownership immediately, so that the user experiences a “one click” launch into a personalized application.

Mozilla hopes to make sure that the infrastructure of enabling Open Web Apps will bring users closer to developers and also generate a thriving ecology and community. They state the basic set of concepts required for Open Web Applications standard are:

• Application manifests, which describes the location, requirements, and capabilities of an application.
• An application repository, which holds the manifests for all of the user’s installed applications.
• A method to install an application into a user’s repository, which can be used by stores and directories or by an application developer (for self-published applications).
• An application dashboard, which is a user interface through which to manage, browse, and launch installed applications.
• An optional network interaction to allow applications to confirm the user’s ownership of a paid registration (i.e. from an application store).

The project looks extremely solid, coming with an already strong set of examples, technical documents, and a concrete standard for developers to work from. The blog even has activity, venturing ideas and first-come suggestions. There should be a broad base of product by the time the infrastructure is prepared to take it to the next level.

The browser wars are intensifying every day, especially as mobile devices lend new territory for claiming. Google Chrome’s been keeping up with regular updates, planning a great deal of leverage power amongst its many applications. While Apple’s behind on the browser end, its app storefront on mobile devices has been receiving a number of updates as well, incorporating several aspects of improvements around sociability and functionality. While Mozilla holds its own, it’s clear that others are eying browsers’ futures for their own purposes, whatever those may be.