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K. To be honest, this was pretty obvious to me. Did people really think it was a full VPN?

• lvs 11y ago
  I agree. There's no good reason why a web browser would make its own network layer connection to support non-HTTP sessions. Session layer proxies have forever been how this is done.
  • pbreit 11y ago
    Baking OpenVPN into the browser doesn't seem like a horrible idea.
    • brokemanchild 11y ago
      There's no way it can stay free can it? It seems like a crazily expensive feature for them to bake in..
      • Vexs 11y ago
        I mean they can insert a client that allows people to use their server of choice.
        • newjersey 11y ago
          I can install the browser without root privileges. This is an absolute must have for me. Installing a browser for a user shoukd not require root. How would you get a non-privileged executable to take control of full network?
          • 4ad 11y ago
            It doesn't. While that's the most common way to run a VPN, it's not the only way. You use TUN/TAP devices because you want arbitrary programs to use them. In this case, you only want Opera to use the VPN connection. You don't need a TUN device for that.
            • newjersey 11y ago
              So it is possible to set up a proper vpn connection without root privileges. I didn't know this was possible. This sounds perfect to me. A custom corporate wrapper for a web browser that lives in its own silo. Workers who are working from home for the day can use that app for work while keeping everything else like Spotify or YouTube or Netflix from going on a long roundabout trip through the VPN. Sounds perfect if you ask me.
    • grymoire1 11y ago
      Having a browser break non-web traffic doesn't sound like a great idea to me.
  • captainmuon 11y ago
    A full VPN could be useful to wrap Java Applets or custom browser extensions. I've found their support for proxy settings unreliable, especially if you don't want to leak info to the main network. (I ended up setting up a VM and routing everything through Tor, which worked but was complete overkill. It would be great if you could force an application (and all subprocess) to use a certain connection. Put a control in the titlebar/system menu that lets me select interfaces. Please, desktop developers, steal this idea!)
• Aelinsaar 11y ago
  Most of the time in a casual, public, marketing or just generally not technical setting, "VPN" is just the modern tern for "Proxy". I'm not sure why that happened to be honest, except maybe that "Virtual Private Network" is more marketable than "Proxy"?
  • roywiggins 11y ago
    Maybe because proxies got a bad name from sketchy free proxies? There are sketchy free VPNs now, but "Businesses use VPNs for security" is a pretty powerful idea, I guess.
    • Aelinsaar 11y ago
      That's a good point. If you're under 40, "Proxy" probably conjures images of those free proxies you mention. Over that, I have to believe you're going to favor the legal terminology at first blush.
    • JamilD 11y ago
      I can understand this argument. The term "proxy" immediately brings me back to the days of trying to bypass the high school content filters using sketchy foreign proxies…
      • roywiggins 11y ago
        I still remember the day I leveled up by setting up an SSH tunnel via my family's PC and walking into school with putty.exe on a thumb drive!
        • BoysenberryPi 11y ago
          This is a very technical solution. I just asked my homeroom teacher, who was also the schools main IT guy, to unblock whatever website I wanted. He was pretty cool. Also installed Visual C# for me on the schools computers so I could program during my down time.