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Posted by Joe Barta on 01/20/06 00:32
Jose wrote:
>> you made the statement that you're not sure if you
>> wanted an hta application on your machine... but you're not
>> telling me why you think it would be any different than any other
>> executable on your machine.
>
> I guess what I'm saying is I don't want it to sneak on my machine
> pretending it's a web page.
How might it do that? How would it sneak onto your machine?
> IT makes me suspicious,
It would appear, yes.
> especially
> when when I click on a link I'm expecting to be taken to a page
> rather than an executable.
If you were to click on an internet link pointing to an hta, it
wouldn't load in your browser unless you deliberately configured your
browser to do this. Here's a link...
http://www.pagetutor.com/button_designer/designer.hta
Click on it or paste it into your browser and hit Go.
Now keep in mind, as you do, you'll feel a twinge of apprehension,
maybe even a little bit of fear. Understand how that fear of the
unknown may be affecting your thinking. After you click on it, you'll
see it's no different than clicking on a link to any other filetype
and due to your increased knowledge, your fear of clicking on it will
disappear.
> As far as web pages go,
It's not a web page per se. Using that line of thought, HTML help are
web pages too.
> it appears that hta is designed primarily
> to ensure that IE is required
Think of it as an extension of IE. And IE components are used in a LOT
of applications. You'd be surprised.
> and second to expand the power of webmasters and limit
> the power of users,
Well, first of all, expanding the powers of webmasters is not a bad
thing.
Interestingly, nobody walks into a McDonalds insisting that the
counter be moved here and made a different color, and the benches be
made a little wider, etc. We take it as it's presented to us... if we
don't like it, we can leave.
It's the same with web sites. A site is made for a reason. A webmaster
might wish to present it in a certain way. If you, the visitor, are
not happy with what you are presented with, you can leave. You might
own your computer, but you don't own the web site.
At any rate, I digress. We were talking about hta applications, not
web pages.
> while lowering the security.
Again, there is no lowered security because hta applications are not
"web pages". It would be helpful if you just forgot about the fact
that they are html markup. Pretend for a moment that they are written
in Klingon.
> From the specs,
> it appears to make something that acts like a crippled web page
Not at all. An hta can do everything a web page can do. Nothing
crippled about it.
That said, internet links opening in IE rather than the user's normal
browser is certainly annoying. Like I said, the easy answer is to wag
the finger at MS and say it's more proof of their intention to
dominate the world... and that may very well be true. But at this
point in time it's perfectly reasonable to suggest that there may be
other, less diabolical reasons.
> (from the user's POV) which circumvents the security issues that
> (presumably) protect the user.
No, no, no. Geez you see a lot of boogie men in the closet!
> It's a little like all the advantages of an operating system
> modification that allows .txt files to be executed by notepad.
You lost me here.
At any rate, it appears that the disconnect here is that you're
thinking of an hta application as a web page. And you're thinking that
it has available to it certain special powers that can wreak havoc on
your computer. Once that thinking is corrected, your concerns would
hopefully be resolved.
Let me know what you think.
Joe Barta
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