Re: ATTENTION! DEVELOPMENT WILL BE MOVED TO WIDSETS.COM

WebSeed  2008/06/03 09:53 UTC


This seems like a really positive move - things were getting a bit messy with the separate sites/clients. Integration with Forum Nokia should also provide benefits - up untill now I've always felt that WidSets was treated as a separate entity with much confusion on the FN boards as to what WidSets could/couldn't do and how it related to WRT.

I have a few concerns over security though - the WidSets production client is signed and has fairly free access (no prompts) to the phone - are there any checks (automatic/manual) on the widgets that are uploaded as Beta widgets? And what happens if (when) location is supported in WidSets - without prompts, a Beta widget could gather sensitive data such as this and harvest it on a remote server somewhere.

Further, it would be fairly trivial to write a widget that could eat up all the phone's memory/lock up the UI etc. or even not provide a 'Back' button to allow the user to exit the widget :) Is it enough to just apply a 'Beta' label? From experience, I know that it's easy to accidently write a widget that wastes resources unnecessarily and does not behaviour responsibly by cleaning up memory, cancelling timers etc. - these may cause side-effects that the user may not attribute directly to the offending Beta widget e.g. WidSets just seems to run slower, pauses momentarily every now and then etc. I guess what I'm suggesting is that it may be necessary for someone to manually check each widget at some point or at least before promoting it to non-Beta status (you may be doing this already but it's not enough to assume that just because a widget has been on the production client for x-number of weeks/months it is without fault and can be promoted).

Also, I hope there will be a system in place on the production site for people to view Beta widgets by newest/most popular/best rated - otherwise WidSets users may find it difficult to find quality Beta content (end up drowning in a sea of 'example' widgets).

Btw - I sent you an email Marko, but maybe it's in your junk email ;)

Br,
Will