From Infoworld:
March 24, 1997 ... If seamless, safe desktop access to remote files on the Internet is the goal, Microsoft is spinning its wheels. There is really only one way to provide these features without introducing a local security risk. You have to eliminate the possibility that anything you run can affect your local drives. Better still, get rid of your local drives.
The author misses the point. Whether your personal files are stored on a local disk or on a server doesn't matter. What matters is whether random downloaded code (again, Java or ActiveX doesn't matter) can use your authority to read/modify those files. The ActiveX model of, "It's signed by XYZ Corp. Of course it's safe." is so much bullshit.* The Java approach of running untrusted code in a safe box is better, but doing it by validating the safety of object code requires trusting a large complex verifier. * See Norm Hardy's paper, "The Confused Deputy", which I believe is still available through the EROS page at the University of Pennsylvania. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Back from caving in Borneo.| Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | Great caves. We mapped | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | 25KM on the expedition. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA