Whilst it's not okay in Microsoft's eyes for Google to install a plugin into Internet Explorer, increasing the potential surface area of attack, when Microsoft do it to Firefox, it's a different matter. Now a security hole has been found in a plugin that Microsoft have been silently installing into Firefox.
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Member since:2005-09-27
Kroc, I'd really like to agree with you, but HTML controls are to limited, you get a button, a combobox a listbox and a pair more and that's it, but lets suppose you need a datetime edit that can show a calendar when you click the tiny arrow to show a calendar, that is something trivial in a desktop aplication, or a treeview or a decend grid (tables do a good job but they fall short), if you need something like it, be prepared to reinvent the well with tons of java script and tons of CSS hacks. And apart deploy all those .js and .css files with your webpage. That, in the end, the users will have to download just to have that basic functionality.
Now try to do that with .NET or Flash or Silverligh or <insert your hated pluggin here> and like magic all that functionality will be at your reach.
HTML is to basic, and needs a lot of javascript and CSS wotkship to make it work for my needs, and Im sure im not alone here.
Edited 2009-10-17 21:26 UTC
Member since:2005-11-10
Member since:2006-02-05
I for one am willing to forego some fancy UI elements in exchange for some security. We are, after all, dealing with unknown, untrusted data from unknown, untrusted sources.
To beat your example to death 
, I have no problem picking my month and day from two drop-downs instead of a calendar view. If I need the calendar, I'll call it up locally on my PC.
Ultimately I think browsers will have to become sandboxes, or (more comfortable to me) we will have to run them in our own sandboxes (a la Sandboxie on Windows, jails on FreeBSD, SELinux). Yes, it will be inconvenient (browse sandbox files, click the one I meant to download, transfer out of sandbox), but far less troublesome than losing your data or reloading your OS.
Edited 2009-10-19 19:04 UTC
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Member since:
2005-11-10
I’m not saying that JS is better than proper compiled code as a development method, I’m saying that _in the browser_, I want HTML/CSS/JS, and not a broken plugin-icon and drive-by viruses, kthnx.