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David Megginson (david@megginson.com)
18 Jan 2000 09:44:32 -0500
"Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com> writes: > XML opens the way for a super-slim 'browser' that's pretty much a network > interface with an XML parser on it, passing results as requested to a wide > variety of application possibilities. Actually, Mosaic was doing that back in 1994, wasn't it? At least, I remember spending a lot of time fiddling with MIME types to invoke different Linux apps. Actually, while this approach sounds good, it will give the sysadmins and security directors at, say, Boeing or the DoD, horrific nightmares. It's already bad enough having to keep track of the (many) security bugs in browsers, approved plugins (BAN 'EM ALL!), and mail-readers, especially when *some* big vendors consider gaping security holes to be essential user-friendly features. Add 40 or 50 helper apps, and you've multiplied the risk beyond the ability of most IS departments to even pretend to cope. There is a partial solution, though: 1. Develop an environment where all apps run in a sandbox with little or no default access to system resources. 2. Require apps to use a common binary format that can be examined and interpreted step-by-step rather than running machine-instructions directly. Oops! Look like I just invented Java. Any venture capitalists listening? > Either way, I'm looking forward to lots of XML-based apps running over > TCP/IP and possibly even HTTP. Yep, me too. I still think that the biggest client-side use for XML is to send complex state information to a Java applet or to (yech) ECMAscript running inside a browser. All the best, David -- David Megginson david@megginson.com http://www.megginson.com/ xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ or CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 Please note: New list subscriptions now closed in preparation for transfer to OASIS.
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