I'd love to be able to use a browser based IDE for development on a Chromebook or other machines that I haven't fully set up, but I can't see it happening for a while for the following reasons:<p>- Plugins - a major part of any IDE like Eclipse or Visual Studio, or text editors like Sublime Text
- Speed - Single threaded JavaScript isn't going to beat multithreaded Python, Java, C#, etc, and when dealing with large text documents, or trying to apply meaning to code structure intelligently like modern IDEs do, this is going to be even more of an issue.
- System Integration - I use keyboard shortcuts for a considerable amount of my work in IDEs, but the ability of a browser to use keyboard shortcuts is severely diminished. Something like Vim's command mode might work, but this is only one style of shortcuts that many people are unfamiliar with or actively dislike.
- System Programs - IDEs are supported by a large number of programs behind the scenes, this would mean any IDE would probably need to be backed by a VPS anyway, and then not only are you even more dependent on an active connection, but also you have a large cost overhead just to be able to work from another machine.