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> It was one of the best things that happened to Linux desktops in a long time and removing it hurts users and makes them less secure. I will disagree, you can

> It was one of the best things that happened to Linux desktops in a long time and removing it hurts users and makes them less secure. I will disagree, you can install most of these from the official repository of your distribution, without the use of electron. They are also very secure if you run them as an unprivileged user.

mrout 9y ago
If you run them as a different user from yourself, maybe, but who does that? The idea that software is secure if it only runs on your own user account is stupid IMO. I'd rather that software had access to everything on my computer EXCEPT my personal files.
- mnm2 9y ago
  It's about restricting access: One is protecting others; The second is protection within your own realm. Both are needed (Unix was just like: At least don't touch the data / system that other users have)
Hydraulix989 9y ago
Suppose your JS Chrome App is getting the plug yanked on it, what are your alternatives? 1.) Port it to Electron and keep nearly the same code base 2.) Rewrite the whole thing as a native app in such a language as C++ without the use of Electron You can't possibly tell me that most developers won't choose #1 instead of #2 in a heartbeat (the switching costs are orders of magnitude more for #2, for one thing). Which is not a Good Thing. And it's also very obvious that #2 isn't nearly as secure as #1, which runs in a sandbox and so does not have direct unchecked access to users' files like #2 does.
- lukechilds 9y ago
  Unless I'm misunderstanding something, an Electron app also has direct unchecked access to users' files by using the Node.js 'fs' core module.
- snakeanus 9y ago
  You can as a user to just use another application.
- hueving 9y ago
  Which option works on a chromebook?
afarrell 9y ago
Yes, but the existence of ssh on chrome makes it much much easier to teach a windows user how to try out the linux command line. PuTTY is annoying as hell to help a new person get working and they might not have enough space for vagrant+virtualbox.
- ThomasGeek 9y ago
  On windows, you no longer need either with bash for windows you can have a near complete linux experience while running inside windows natively.
  - afarrell 9y ago
    If you can assure me that is the case, fantastic! Do you know of a way to test the UX of ssh from bash for windows for less than $5 ?
    - chuckdries 9y ago
      "Ubuntu on Windows" as they're calling it now is free, enabled via the control panel, and provides a near perfect bash experience. I use it on the desktop I built for VR to SSH into my digital ocean droplets all the time. Super easy to use, just open powershell, run `bash`, then you can run `ssh` like normal. You have access to your windows files with /mnt/c and etc. for additional drives. The only issue is that Powershell doesn't support the full gamut of colors that Bash does, but that support is coming in the fall creators update and frankly it works fine with every Vim and zsh color scheme I've tested. 10/10 developing for the web on windows is finally tolerable
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
    - simonh 9y ago
      I don't know enough about ssh for Chrome and bash for Windows to get your point. Isn't bash for Windows (as part of WSL?) free? What is it that costs more than $5 using bash for windows but is free with ssh for Chrome? Genuinely interested, I'm on OSX mostly but I'm WSL curious.

mrout 9y ago

If you run them as a different user from yourself, maybe, but who does that? The idea that software is secure if it only runs on your own user account is stupid IMO. I'd rather that software had access to everything on my computer EXCEPT my personal files.

mnm2 9y ago
It's about restricting access: One is protecting others; The second is protection within your own realm. Both are needed (Unix was just like: At least don't touch the data / system that other users have)

Hydraulix989 9y ago

Suppose your JS Chrome App is getting the plug yanked on it, what are your alternatives? 1.) Port it to Electron and keep nearly the same code base 2.) Rewrite the whole thing as a native app in such a language as C++ without the use of Electron You can't possibly tell me that most developers won't choose #1 instead of #2 in a heartbeat (the switching costs are orders of magnitude more for #2, for one thing). Which is not a Good Thing. And it's also very obvious that #2 isn't nearly as secure as #1, which runs in a sandbox and so does not have direct unchecked access to users' files like #2 does.

lukechilds 9y ago
Unless I'm misunderstanding something, an Electron app also has direct unchecked access to users' files by using the Node.js 'fs' core module.
snakeanus 9y ago
You can as a user to just use another application.
hueving 9y ago
Which option works on a chromebook?

afarrell 9y ago

Yes, but the existence of ssh on chrome makes it much much easier to teach a windows user how to try out the linux command line. PuTTY is annoying as hell to help a new person get working and they might not have enough space for vagrant+virtualbox.

ThomasGeek 9y ago
On windows, you no longer need either with bash for windows you can have a near complete linux experience while running inside windows natively.
- afarrell 9y ago
  If you can assure me that is the case, fantastic! Do you know of a way to test the UX of ssh from bash for windows for less than $5 ?
  - chuckdries 9y ago
    "Ubuntu on Windows" as they're calling it now is free, enabled via the control panel, and provides a near perfect bash experience. I use it on the desktop I built for VR to SSH into my digital ocean droplets all the time. Super easy to use, just open powershell, run `bash`, then you can run `ssh` like normal. You have access to your windows files with /mnt/c and etc. for additional drives. The only issue is that Powershell doesn't support the full gamut of colors that Bash does, but that support is coming in the fall creators update and frankly it works fine with every Vim and zsh color scheme I've tested. 10/10 developing for the web on windows is finally tolerable
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  - simonh 9y ago
    I don't know enough about ssh for Chrome and bash for Windows to get your point. Isn't bash for Windows (as part of WSL?) free? What is it that costs more than $5 using bash for windows but is free with ssh for Chrome? Genuinely interested, I'm on OSX mostly but I'm WSL curious.