We debated a bit about browser vs ripple at phonegap day (especially Intel folks who have done lots of work here), and the my personal tldr; is that there is in fact a home for both.
Basically, browser-platform is for getting apps running in a browser (duh) with as much working functionality as possible. Its supposed to simplify the 'if cordova then dialog else alert' problem, so you can build even more of your app with just local development. Seemingly this could be used to make targeting both web and app even easier. Ripple is for instrumenting/debugging apps by manipulating plugins. Its about having a UI that reaches into geolocation or camera and controls what the plugin returns to the app. Its about re-running the same device events over and over for tracking application logic changes. Some of the work ripple has done traditionally can now in fact just be done via browser DevTools, but their are still some cases where custom hooks into plugins are the best way to provide a good local "simulator". (Chrome DevTools at least now provide mobile emulation, unsure about others). In my view, ripple should be built on top of the browser platform work, and ideally also decouple the UI from the plugin instrumentation, but thats up to the folks running that effort. With all this in mind, I think the cordova-browser effort should proceed with current direction, but keep in mind that more advanced plugin instrumentation doesn't belong there. -Michal
