[kwlug-disc] DuckDuckGo.com -- an alternate search engine

[unsolicited]

Ralph Janke wrote, On 07/27/2010 9:15 PM:
> On July 27, 2010 07:27:40 pm unsolicited wrote:
>> Networking in and of itself should not be bad.
>>
>> ...
>>
>> NoScript, at least, provides a selective, and temporary, mechanism to
>> let (some) javascript in. And even doing so will lead to 'nefarious'
>> unnecessary consumption of unwanted bandwidth, if you don't remember
>> to revoke those temporary permissions. (Which makes NoScript,
>> unfortunately, an incompletely satisfying sole approach.)
>>
>> To say, in this day and age "Well, just don't use it, then." is fatuous.
>>
> 
> Well, it still does not explain why networking is ok, but Javascript is not. 
> Javascript is not the only security issue exposed in networking.
> 
> Hence: Javascript in and of itself should not be bad! :)

Ah! Agreed. And I apologize if I gave that impression.

We would all be poorer if javascript had not been 'invented.'

However, the way it has turned out to be used in the practical world 
means that I would rather disable it, then selectively enable bits of 
it, rather than the other way around. Even if I had the facilities to 
do so. And the phrase 'putting the cart before the horse' comes to mind.

Which is all to say, I guess, javascript has not proven to be so 
overwhelmingly useful, particularly on simple search engines, that I 
am willing to carte blanche enable it, then try to, after the fact, 
contain it to only its useful bits.

Unlike networking.

Nothing here is to blame or point particular fingers at javascript. 
The same ideas, I suspect, apply to any technology. Javascript, with 
its saturation level, just happens to be the front line victim, or 
culprit, in this thread.