chrome app

How easy and quick is it to build a simple project.

Moderate.

How will the JavaScript communicate with the Native Backend.

No native backed. Uses the chrome browser as the executor.

How are JS objects in JavaScript sent to the backend, and how easy is it to read them? Do they need to be encoded purely into JSON as an intermediary?

Chrome provides modules for JS to use.

Can the JS make async HTTP requests to any other web server without cross domain restrictions?

Yes.

Is there a way to have synchronous calls to the backend without using AJAX all the time to talk to the backend.

No Ajax required.

Does the system need to be recompiled when backend changes?

No reload via the chrome extension browser

Does system need to be recompiled when frontend code (JS/CSS/HTML) changes?

No it works like a browser just reload

If no recompile necessary is there a way to reload a specific view without restarting the app.

Loads the first view provided in the manifest

Is there a webkit/firefox type inspector built in to debug the javascript.

Yes. Webkit.

Is it possible to debug the backend code easily.

No backend code. Works on top of chrome.

What platforms will this support?

Supports Windows, Mac and linux

Can you cross compile? meaning can you build an app for OSX while on Linux, etc...

There is no compilation.

How easy is it to distribute apps built with this platform. Will this give a standard system like DMG, binary tarball (linux) and installer (windows) which users are used to.

Distributed via the chrome web store. Easy.

If you need to update the application is there a straight forward path to do so.

Yes. Even auto updating is possible by providing a url endpoint in the manifest.

Does this provide cross platform library to access lower level hardware like the sound card, etc (not using HTML5 audio) in case someone needs to build a more complex system.

No. Restricted to HTML5 Api and Chrome API

Will this work on chromebooks?

Yes.