3 ms·

Wasn't following Sandstorm.io closely, until today. I am liking the technology and philosophy too. Do you think this could scale down to desktops as well? Ther

by hrjet 12y ago

Wasn't following Sandstorm.io closely, until today. I am liking the technology and philosophy too. Do you think this could scale down to desktops as well? There could be two ways of doing it: 1. Have user locally install apps-with-web-frontends on the desktop. Use P2P technologies for communication between the apps. 2. Have user locally install apps with native UIs. They either communicate to a sandstorm cloud backend or use local sandstorm instance. #1 will be easier for you but a little harder for developers (web-apps are a little difficult to develop compared to native apps).

kentonv 12y ago
The biggest challenge to Sandstorm on the desktop would be that Sandstorm is very much tied to Linux. We make extensive use of Linux features that no other OS currently has, and Sandstorm apps are built as Linux binaries. That said, if you have a Linux desktop or are willing to run a VM, then you can run Sandstorm locally today. It should work just fine, except that it will be harder to share your things with other users. For #2, there are two possibilities: 1. The app runs outside of Sandstorm, but talks to your Sandstorm server. We intend to make this possible soon. 2. The app runs inside Sandstorm. It's theoretically possible to design something like this on top of Sandstorm, but it would take some engineering work to define the protocol that the app uses to talk to the display / window manager while keeping it properly sandboxed. This would be a fun project, but it's not something we have any plans to work on.
- hrjet 12y ago
  > ... you can run Sandstorm locally today. It should work just fine, except that it will be harder to share your things with other users. True, that's why it would be nice to design a P2P system into Sandstorm. On the technical front, the Java run-time is actually pretty well designed and has a solid sand-boxing model too. If only it were fully open-source and wasn't guarded with over-zealous lawyers.
  - dckc 12y ago
    The Java sand-boxing model is more restrictive and less flexible and less secure than capabilities. for example... http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2009-February/012983.html http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2009-February/012983... and a historical perspective... http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2001-January/004030.html http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2001-January/004030....

by hrjet 12y ago

kentonv 12y ago

The biggest challenge to Sandstorm on the desktop would be that Sandstorm is very much tied to Linux. We make extensive use of Linux features that no other OS currently has, and Sandstorm apps are built as Linux binaries. That said, if you have a Linux desktop or are willing to run a VM, then you can run Sandstorm locally today. It should work just fine, except that it will be harder to share your things with other users. For #2, there are two possibilities: 1. The app runs outside of Sandstorm, but talks to your Sandstorm server. We intend to make this possible soon. 2. The app runs inside Sandstorm. It's theoretically possible to design something like this on top of Sandstorm, but it would take some engineering work to define the protocol that the app uses to talk to the display / window manager while keeping it properly sandboxed. This would be a fun project, but it's not something we have any plans to work on.

hrjet 12y ago
> ... you can run Sandstorm locally today. It should work just fine, except that it will be harder to share your things with other users. True, that's why it would be nice to design a P2P system into Sandstorm. On the technical front, the Java run-time is actually pretty well designed and has a solid sand-boxing model too. If only it were fully open-source and wasn't guarded with over-zealous lawyers.
- dckc 12y ago
  The Java sand-boxing model is more restrictive and less flexible and less secure than capabilities. for example... http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2009-February/012983.html http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2009-February/012983... and a historical perspective... http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2001-January/004030.html http://www.eros-os.org/pipermail/e-lang/2001-January/004030....