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Open Source Guacamole Puts VNC On the Web
tbitiss writes "A new open source project dubbed Guacamole allows users to access a desktop remotely through a web browser, potentially streamlining the requirements for client support and administration. Guacamole is an HTML5 and JavaScript (Ajax) VNC viewer that makes use of a VNC-to-XML proxy server written in Java. According to its developers, Guacamole is almost as responsive as native VNC and should work in any browser supporting the HTML5 canvas tag. Supporting 10 Linux desktops in 10 browser tabs? I like the sound of that."
Actually, I have not problem with Slashvertisements that would obviously interest the slashdot community, such as this. Just tag it as such!
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
"Almost" as responsive as VNC? So it sucks even more?
This piece of crap is a JavaScript/HTML5 hack plus a server-side Java process. The worst of both worlds!
The difference between a 4-digit user ID and a 7-digit user ID becomes increasingly clear.
The client (read:web browser) doesn't need Java installed. That's about it.
If you have Java installed on your machine you can run a Java-based VNC client. The Java-based VNC client could be stored on a web server. So the benefits of cross-platform compatibility or use-anywhere accessibility aren't new or unique to the HTML5 client.
But you don't need Java. But you do need an HTML5 capable browser. Both solutions require you install an application of some kind. But everyone has a browser, you say. Well, HTML5 isn't set to be ratified until 2012. Changes to the spec could still happen. Changes that might break this HTML5-based client. Whereas the Java-based client, I know, will work right now and will continue to work.
What's worse, you're introducing a new point of attack/failure into the system. If you're paranoid enough to want an encrypted VNC connection you now have to worry whether or not the VNC/XML server is encrypting it's connection to the VNC server. You can't prove that it is, you just have to trust that it is. Whereas with a Java-based client you can setup a tunnel through any number of means and know that your direct connection to the VNC server is safe.
You might argue the HTML5 client approach is more user-friendly; a less-technical user would find this solution far more convenient. A system admin might like the solution too as there's no need to worry about installing a JVM on the client or teaching the client how to start a Java application. But those arguments don't fly. Whether it's a JVM or a browser you will have to install some piece of software on the client machine. And a Java application can be delivered and launched over the web just as easily as some embedded HTML5 client. The ease-of-use to the end-user is the same.
It's a nice hack to showcase what HTML5 can do, but that's all it is.
Why do so many open source projects have the dumbest names? Whats next? Ketchup? Towel? Come on guys, put the bowl down for five minutes and come up with a name that isn't related to the munchies in front of you or the stains on your shirt.
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
But it's open source, so stop whining and go rewrite it in Python, or Perl, or Assembly or something. Or Brainfuck.
Learn about Photography Basics.
The hack is in using XML (which has a high-overhead due to it being a "human-readable" plain-text format) to transfer large amounts of data that have no need to be "human-readable" or interpreted by different parsers.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
My company uses FormFlow Filler extensively, for filling out government forms. It was bought by Adobe and killed, with the end of life in 2004. It barely runs on XP, let alone anything later. If it was open sourced, I'm sure even with my meager coding skills I could at least keep it functional, since it is still heavily used. Point being, proprietary software being shelved sucks much more than open source software being shelved.
7 layers is called "Networking" or "OSI Model"