Seamless Lessons & Security (commentary)

[Martin Dengler]

On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 12:28:03AM -0400, Michael Stone wrote:
> [seamless/seamful thoughts]
> Questions?

"seamless" and "seamful" seem very wooly words.  Are they, in this
context, well-defined?  Seem dangerously like defining-away the
argument.

Assuming they are well defined, when I read

> * a _general_ seamless 'launch activities by clicking URLs' facility is
>   wholly incompatible with Bitfrost [in the cases we care about]

...I think even if this entirely academic[1] argument, depending on a
rigourous definition of the term "seamless" being used to justify a
large decrease in convenience vis-a-vis mainstream OS UIs, is valid,
that:

a) existing users like teachers and developers will chafe against /
not accept it, as they will reject the serious inconvenience for a
security benefit they will be hard-pressed to understand; and

b) there seems to be the implication that anything incompatible with
[the current design of] Bitfrost is inherently undesired, which is a
"chilling" message to send; and

c) even if one argues a) doesn't apply because we're targeting new
users, and not existing ones, it's clearly behavior - a "seam", be it
an abyss or a small hoop or only-an-implementation-deficiency - that
could be addressed better (I guess this isn't contentious, but perhaps
it is, so stating for clarity...)

> Michael & Ivan

Martin

1. It's clearly academic, as in the rest of the world this
"launch-by-clicking-URL" behavior is about as prevalent as the common
cold.
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