Node.js used to mirror DOM across browsers(screentoaster.com) |
Node.js used to mirror DOM across browsers(screentoaster.com) |
It's not necessarily the DOM sharing, which is cool enough. I just think that the emergence of sockets in new browsers is going to bring in the "next level", whatever that ends up being.
Seriously incredible, especially considering the development timeframe.
We've had such technology for decades. There have been desktop sharing apps for years, in Java applets etc.
So whilst it's cool that the browser wars are generating a ton of improvements, none of them so far are really things that will blow users minds. HTML5 is just catching up to where other platforms were 10 years ago.
Perhaps the focus shifted.
When I first saw Wolf3D as a kid I was amazed that the computer could do that. Same when I first used a GIS.
These days when people get "excited" about something like Facebook, it's not because it's a technical achievement. It's something more human. Which perhaps is why I don't get it.
Maybe browser technology is "good enough". Perhaps the point is to be able to get apps out to people as simply as possible. It's just a URL.
Due to the fact I don't feel a point coming on any time soon I'll end here.
It's not the actual feature that will be new, but the simplicity is what will make it from a 'technical tool' in their eyes to some far more common.
I have done a few demos like this, and it turns out to be surprisingly hard to turn it into a product. For instance, just because you can send over changes to the DOM, you can't necessarily reproduce the javascript side-effects, exactly. You can't just poll the state of the DOM because it doesn't reflect all of the state that lives in javascript closures that you can't even see.
One easier method, and probably what they did in this demo, is simply catch any user-generated event in browser A and re-emit it in browser B, thus letting the existing javascript code / browser logic do any actual DOM/state modification.
But what happens when each user triggers an DOM event at the same time? They end up getting applied in reverse order on the two browsers. In many cases this can cause the two browsers to fall out of sync.
Anyway, I love seeing WebSocket demos, and this is pretty fun. Just be sure you realize what a rabbit hole this is if you want to make a product.
There must be money to be made in this sort of service?
http://nodeknockout.com/teams/starcraft-2-destroyed-my-marri...
A similar attack would be to override the back button. You know those sites where the back button takes you to a redirect that takes you to the same page? Take one of those, but on the redirect page save the referring URL. Then when the user hits back, have the redirect page start the session sharing and redirect to the referrer. Sounds plenty dangerous to me.
Any chance you'd consider open-sourcing?
I made a similar nodejs application too sometime back, but mine is still with some bugs.
Everyone knows that a sufficiently geeky person can make a computer do magical things.
However, apps (in the general sense) become much more exciting when they gain wide appeal, and the difficult discovery, install, setup, and maintenance experience of earlier approaches were an enormous drag on their wide success.
If you consider this to be dangerous that's a flaw in every web browser ever, not this piece of software. This kind of thing was possible 10 years ago too.
Often, it's the "sounds plenty dangerous" innovations (fire, automobile, chainsaw, theory of relativity), that provide the most utility.
--
Edit: I should add that I'm using libxmljs in production (http://newsbasis.com/news) as an rss parser (streaming sax-push-parser) and it works quite well for that sort of xml.
I already leave a log of my IP address, the web browser I'm using, the links I click, the time/date of my visit and any data that I submit through forms. If they want to monitor my mouse position as well, then fine.
No. I'm not. I don't get where you think the danger lies?