On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 12:40 PM, Eric Shepherd <esheph...@mozilla.com> wrote:
> Martin Thomson wrote: > >> There are two aspects to this: the software, and the content. >> >> If software cannot be updated, that a problem in its own right. The >> idea that you could release your server onto the Internet to fend for >> itself for 20 years was a dream of the 90s that has taken a while to >> die. Just as you have to feed it electricity and packets, you have to >> maintain software too. >> > In my case, the situation is that I have classic computers running 1-10 > megahertz processors, for which encrypting and decrypting SSL is not a > plausible option. Have you tried? I have distinct memories of running Netscape Navigator on an SE/30, which according to wikipedia had a 16MHz processor. It seems like without having to run the UI, you could run an HTTPS server that did OK. --Richard > These computers have a burgeoning "retro" fanbase trying to push them to > do new and interesting things, and a lot of that involves writing software > that works over the Web using standard protocols. These efforts cannot be > sustained in an HTTPS-only world. > > This has personal meaning to me as a long-time member of the > retrocomputing community, and as the author of software that runs on these > machines, including multiple programs that use HTTP to do so. If things > start requiring HTTPS, our ability to continue to innovate and try to push > these machines to do more and more things previously unheard of starts to > come to an end. I don't like that notion very much. > > Is it a niche case? Sure. But it's not one to be dismissed outright > without at least having its voice heard, so here I am, representing our > little crowd. > > I'm not trying to stir up trouble or be a pain in the ass. Just pointing > out that there honestly, truly are valid use cases for straight-up HTTP, > even if they're rare. > > (FWIW, I concede that the "not everything needs encryption" position is a > little overstated, but I also think that there really is stuff that doesn't > need encrypting, even if it's a tiny fraction of the Web's traffic). > > -- > > Eric Shepherd > Senior Technical Writer > Mozilla <https://www.mozilla.org/> > Blog: http://www.bitstampede.com/ > Twitter: http://twitter.com/sheppy > _______________________________________________ > dev-platform mailing list > dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform > _______________________________________________ dev-platform mailing list dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform
