[LINK] RFC: Web 2.0

[Craig Sanders]

On Fri, Nov 24, 2006 at 11:51:38AM +1100, Eric Scheid wrote:
> "Craig Sanders" <cas at taz.net.au> wrote:
> > in a previous message, i said i couldn't recall one web site which relied on
> > javascript where the js wasn't more of a hindrance than a help.
> 
> > i've got no use for a site like that, anyway...and i think it's a bad
> > idea.
> 
> There are certain kinds of websites and applications I enjoy using, and have
> a need for, and there are certain kinds I don't. I don't however accuse the
> latter of being poorly implemented or of using javascript for no user
> benefit, or of being spyware, of being more of an hindrance than a help.

my main issue with them was their privacy policy. they state that
they'll export your data to the U.S. (where the laws allow them to do
whatever they want with it).

the second paragraph i quoted, which said that they may transfer your
data to another entity in the case of acquisition or merger is, IMO, the
whole point of the service. user personal data is the only real asset
they have, it's what makes them worth buying.

(btw, i didn't say it was poorly implemented. i said it was unneccesary.
and javascript generally IS more of a hindrance than a help)


> Would your opinion of their javascript change, though, if instead of it
> being a service hosted by them, it was an open source package you could
> install on your own servers?

not much.

i find sites that use javascript slow down my browser to a ridiculous extent.

e.g. i was looking at the drive.com.au site this morning, which uses
javascript a lot to rebuild drop-down selection lists when you select
a make/model of a car. slightly convenient, but not necessary. the
entire browser (not just the window displaying drive.com.au) slowed to
a crawl - it would take over a minute to even display the drop-down
menu, or switch to another window or tab, or perform any other normal
operation....and i could see in the CPU meter in my gnome panel that CPU
utilisation jumped to 100%. as soon as i closed the window containing
drive.com.au, the browser went back to normal speed.

(btw, this is on an amd-64 3200 with 2GB RAM, a stupidly overpowered
machine for the majority of tasks i use it for*. it should NOT be
struggling to switch browser tabs)

this is entirely typical when visiting sites that make more than trivial
use of javascript. it (apart from the potential spyware problems) is the
main reason i use the Firefox NoScript extension, set to disable js on
all sites by default.


(*) the only task i use it for that really needs the CPU grunt is to
post-process the DVB recordings i make with VDR to sync the program
stream to plain mpeg, and then transcode them to DIVX so i can play
them over the network on the xbox (with xbox media center) attached to
my TV. the CPU power also comes in handy processing all the postfix and
spamassassin regular expression patterns. the price on dual core amd64's
has come down a lot in recent months, so i'll probably upgrade to a dual
core amd64 4200 sometime soon.  SMP is very useful on a multi-tasking
machine, makes it far more responsive no matter what it's doing in the
background.



IMO, the whole AJAX idea is misguided. it would be better implemented
using the mozilla XUL application environment, fetching data as needed
from RSS and XML sources. cross-platform, fast native code, and the
user decides in advance what applications (and the version) they want
to install and run on their computer, rather than just running whatever
code is served up by a website when they visit. such applications
should concentrate on serving up the data in a standardised format, and
leave the presentation and manipulation of that data to the client side
(whether a browser-based application or stand-alone app).



> On 24/11/06 10:12 AM, "Reagan Blundell" <reagan at whatever.net.au> wrote:
> 
> > I would presume it would be someone who didn't have a PDA nor their own
> > server, but still wanted to be able to access their todo list from a
> > variety of locations / computers (such as both from work and from home)
> 
> You can even access it from an internet capable mobile phone, which is very
> handy, especially if you accept tasks and reminders from others (eg. life
> partner says "we need milk" ;-).

doesn't SMS do that job just as well?  and without the privacy infringements.



craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>           (part time cyborg)