gnosis

Probably? This is purely speculative.

I'd be interested to see any actual exploits of Interactive Fiction engines. So far, they are a much less attractive target to malware authors than web browsers are. That alone makes me prefer them over web browsers, no matter what their theoretical vulnerabilities may be.

"incognito mode / using a separate browser profile / portable browser installs are all options to completely preserve privacy"

Users are often tracked by their IP addresses as well as OS and browser fingerprinting, which Javascript can facilitate. Try going to Panopticlick[1] with Javascript turned off and then with it turned on and see the difference.

"that are either as convenient or more convenient than installing an interactive fiction engine."

But I already have multiple Interactive Fiction engines installed, so using them is perfectly convenient for me. As for others, how many people do you think actually bother to use a separate browser profile or even "incognito mode"? Not a hell of a lot. And if they do, they might also do what I do and disable Javascript altogether.

[1] - https://panopticlick.eff.org

Torture, disappearances, indefinite secret imprisonment without trial or access to lawyers or medical care, inflitration and mass arrests of people participating in nonviolent protest, agent provacateurs, lying to the congress, spying on virtually everyone, giving retroactive immunity to and pardoning criminal lackeys, and mass murder on a scale the Taliban couldn't achieve in their wildest dreams.

These are not the actions of "whitehats" or "good guys", no matter what the lapdog media and corrupt, self-serving politicians may tell you.

You know, not everything that needs code needs to be run in a web browser.

Is it really so ridiculous of me to oppose opening my browser up to Javascript exploits and spying by the likes of GoogleAPI?

I'd be happy to run the game in any of the standalone, non-browser-based Interactive Fiction game engines like Frotz[1], Zoom[2], and Inform7[3] out there that this particular game might have been written in. And I would have had no problem playing it then.

[1] - http://frotz.sourceforge.net/

[2] - http://www.logicalshift.co.uk/unix/zoom/

[3] - http://inform7.com/

More to the point, if at least you didn't care, then why did you comment?

Why didn't you "just move on"?

You mean you have yet to become aware that your browser has been owned through some Javascript exploit.

Somehow that isn't very comforting to me.

First, I much prefer open-source games, where I can see the code. So I would avoid binaries. And whether an app I use needs to be recompiled for some operating system other than the one I use is really not my problem.

Second, I loathe the move to making everything accessible only through the web, usually through bloated, insecure web browsers and crappy web technologies. If 99.9% of the web died tomorrow, I would be overjoyed. This includes virtually everything done in Javascript (not to mention Flash).

Third, I've yet to hear of an exploit of a standalone Interactive Fiction engine, while Javascript browser exploits are a dime a dozen. I prefer not to make my browser more vulnerable by running untrusted, unnecessary Javascript code.

Fourth, I don't want to be tracked through spyware like GoogleAPI, thank you very much!

"Honestly, aside from not making a point in your initial comment you chose to make it in an unnecessarily snarky manner. Completely uninteresting and irrelevant to someone saying "hey check out my game"."

Except that developers did find it interesting. Like the following comment from sillysaurus[1]:

  As a game developer, I care. Any sign that my potential audience is
  cut by a technology choice I make is valuable information to me.

"If you don't want to check it out, then don't, it isn't necessary to share that non-information with the rest of us. I'm sure most of us (as I can see from the extended comments on this here) would have been more than happy to have a reasonable discussion on the pros and cons of browser based distribution of applications if you had started there instead of where you did."

I should have gone in to more detail as to why I am opposed to running Javascript in my browser, and why I prefer to run standalone apps rather than web-browser apps. And had I seen the gigantic backlash that my little comment generated, I would have -- had I not gone to sleep immediately after making my comment. So I'm replying now that I'm awake. I hope my current comment helps clear up why I made my initial (all too brief and snarky) comment.

[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5961281

Or the non-effect of them.

Crime rates have dropped drastically across the board, across the country, in many places that didn't make their policing policies more fascist as NYC's government chose to.

From the MJ article:

  Second, and far more puzzling, it's not just New York that has
  seen a big drop in crime. In city after city, violent crime peaked
  in the early '90s and then began a steady and spectacular
  decline. Washington, DC, didn't have either Giuliani or Bratton, but
  its violent crime rate has dropped 58 percent since its
  peak. Dallas' has fallen 70 percent. Newark: 74 percent. Los
  Angeles: 78 percent.

  There must be more going on here than just a change in policing
  tactics in one city.

[1] - http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-li...

That's what I thought this particular game might be.

In fact, there is a slew of standalone, non-browser-based Interactive Fiction game engines like Frotz[1], Zoom[2], and Inform7[3] out there that this particular game might have been written in. And I would have had no problem playing it then.

[1] - http://frotz.sourceforge.net/

[2] - http://www.logicalshift.co.uk/unix/zoom/

[3] - http://inform7.com/

No thank you to opening my browser up to Javascript exploits and GoogleAPI tracking!

Have you ever heard of games that don't run within web browsers?

That's what I thought this particular game might be.

In fact, there is a slew of standalone, non-browser-based Interactive Fiction game engines like Frotz[1], Zoom[2], and Inform7[3] out there that this particular game might have been written in. And I would have had no problem playing it then.

[1] - http://frotz.sourceforge.net/

[2] - http://www.logicalshift.co.uk/unix/zoom/

[3] - http://inform7.com/

Not being spied upon is important to me, so I try to avoid any RSS readers that are hosted on servers that don't belong to me.

I also loathe browser-based applications, for their shitty interfaces, lack of transparency (when they're hosted on some server I don't control), and poor integration with the rest of the unix ecosystem.

So for me, having an open-source, non-browser-based RSS reader trumph the concerns you mention.

Other people may have different needs and concerns, which is why it's important to list every alternative there is, and not just limit them to what one person considers important.

There are plenty of RSS readers that aren't web-based.

My personal favorite of those is Newsbeuter.[1]

[1] - http://www.newsbeuter.org/index.html

I've also used kivio on occasion, and graphviz, and ploticus. Again, all depending on what I'm after.

In the wake of the recent search-engine and web-service provider scandals, I think a lot of people would.

Why couldn't there be a search engine run by a non-profit, which does not treat its users like commodities, which respects its users' privacy, does not track them, does not advertise, and is run for the benefit of its users, not for its own benefit?

You should read up on the City of London Corporation.[1][2][3][4]

[1] - http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residen...

[2] - http://streebgreebling.blogspot.com/2011/04/state-within-sta...

[3] - http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporati...

[4] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London_Corporation

When you don't pay for a service in money, the company providing that service has to find some other way of generating money.

Often they do this by collecting and selling data about you.

Now, that doesn't mean that just because you paid for a service they won't do the same thing. But they'll will have more incentive to protect their paying customers than some service which consider you and your data as the commodity.

I used the term to highlight that what most people consider "free" web services actually have a price.

That price is usually your privacy.

This has been obvious for a long time.

Most other "free" web services aren't much better.

It's sad that it's taken so long for people to start realizing and caring about this, but better late than never.

There are other direct and indirect ways useful politicians, their friends and families can benefit from corporations that they help. Some of these ways have been made illegal, but corporations and their beneficiaries in politics are very good at finding loopholes in the laws they write.

Another way corporations wind up being exempt from regulation is through defunding of regulatory agencies, or by pro-corporate-welfare ideologues being placed in charge of these agencies -- after which they fire the career officials at these agencies and replace them with loyal lackeys who will unquestioningly pursue the agenda of deregulation, defunding the government, and looking the other way at corporate malfeasance. Then, after breaking the government, they can blame the government for not working.

But the underlying problem is that government and corporations are not really two separate, independent entities. They are quite tightly integrated and interwoven, with one hand washing the other, scratching each other's backs, and giving each other kickbacks and bribes.

It's a real wonder any major antitrust actions have ever happend, that there are any worker protection laws or unions left, that the Envirionmental Protection Agency has any teeth, and that the National Parks haven't yet been sold to logging, mining, oil, and natural gas companies.

[1] - http://www.lowendbox.com/

I think it's perfectly legitimate to for me to comment on why this particular serverless RSS client does not fit my needs and what I believe better alternatives are and why.

Anyone with similar needs or who may not have considered or been aware of the alternatives might benefit from my comments, and someone who has experience with other software that might better suit my needs might mention in return, which would be of benefit to me and others with similar needs or concerns.

[1] - http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~hsaka/w3m/

[2] - http://en.sourceforge.jp/projects/w3m-js/