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Windows 8 Introduces a New Cross-App Data-Sharing System

Posted by timothy on from the at-least-it-won't-get-exploited-by-malware dept.

There's been a lot of attention to the way Windows 8 looks; reader aabelro writes with an interesting look at one way it behaves. The article begins thus: "Microsoft has created a new mechanism for sharing information between applications in Windows 8 called Windows Share. Apps can share text, bitmaps, HTML, URI, files, and other type of data, and the usage scenarios are numerous. For example, the app receiving the information can post it to Tweeter or Facebook[, making] it easy to post information to a social network without actually visiting it." Here's a short (video) explanation at MSDN, too.

5 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Re:hmm i wonder. by Nerdfest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It sounds very much like Android intents as well, which is one of the big design failings of iOS (from what I understand). Does WP7 have anything this, or is it missing the inter-app ability as well?

  2. already have this by mister_playboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've already got this in my CLI... it's called a pipe.

    --
    Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
  3. Re:Akonadi by jrumney · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Looks more like DDE than OLE to me. Hopefully they've fixed the misfeature that makes the whole desktop lock up along with the sending program if the program that is supposed to receive the DDE request doesn't process it right away.

  4. Re:On behalf of every trojan creator on the planet by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You do realize sharing the data this way requires explicit action from the user, right? He has to bring up the system menu and tap a button inconspicuously labeled "Share" on it, then select the target app.

    It kinda helps to RTFA and watch the linked video, so you have some idea what it actually is before posting (this also applies to moderators, BTW). Hint: it's exactly what we've had for 3 years now on Android, only there it's called "intents".

    Indeed, the whole point of this feature is to otherwise sandbox the apps completely so that they don't get any access to user's file system outside of their sandbox by default, not even read access (they can get access to standard folders such as "Documents" and "Pictures", but this requires an explicit confirmation from the user). Without such sandboxing, it's very typical for desktop apps to all run under the same account (on all platforms), and therefore their config files - with passwords, history, and other interesting stuff in them - are completely exposed. With a sandbox, like in Win8 (or WP7, or iOS, or - partially, if you forget /sdcard - Android), you need some way for apps to communicate for those scenarios where a task involves passing data from one to each other - and this thing is what enables it while, again, requiring explicit user interaction for every such communication.

  5. Re:Android Intents by sourcerror · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It sounds like OLE reinvented for the web.