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Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

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Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#61

Post by untog »

tim58 wrote: post #50
morpheuskafka wrote: post #8

I'm personally fine with this. FTP is a different protocol, just like BitTorrent. It's not part of the modern web, so it's just another loose end to tie up. Even though it will be around for a while, it's not relevant to Chrome's user audience/usecase.

I'm not fine with this. I'm of the mindset that code written 20 years ago should run today. This is a breaking change on a critical piece of internet infrastructure. Google, by nature of operating the most popular web browser, has a moral obligation to the community to provide a stable environment. There are something like 10^9 webpages out there. How many of these will become less accessible because of this change?…

> I'm of the mindset that code written 20 years ago should run today.

I'm of the mindset that it should be possible to rub code written 20 years ago, but not always the same way you run code written more recently. Emulation, virtual machines etc all allow access to old work without hobbling future development with backwards compatibility concerns (see: Windows).

In this case, there are plenty of free and open source options for FTP clients. No one is going to have the world closed off to them as a result of this.

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#63

Post by dbg31415 »

tim58 wrote: post #50
morpheuskafka wrote: post #8

I'm personally fine with this. FTP is a different protocol, just like BitTorrent. It's not part of the modern web, so it's just another loose end to tie up. Even though it will be around for a while, it's not relevant to Chrome's user audience/usecase.

I'm not fine with this. I'm of the mindset that code written 20 years ago should run today. This is a breaking change on a critical piece of internet infrastructure. Google, by nature of operating the most popular web browser, has a moral obligation to the community to provide a stable environment. There are something like 10^9 webpages out there. How many of these will become less accessible because of this change?…

> I'm of the mindset that code written 20 years ago should run today.

It's OK if some of the more antiquated parts of the web die off. I don't want to have to support old Flash loading screens, I don't need AOL instant messenger status badges, or iFramed in MySpace comments, and I don't need to open FTP in my browser. Most users these days wouldn't even know how to use this via browser... ftp://myname:mypassword@123.123.123.123... it's just a relic.

Anyone who wants to use FTP knows how to download a program for it. We don't need it in Chrome.

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#64

Post by dagenix »

jimmaswell wrote: post #48
Someone1234 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is progress though. FTP is insecure, and worse still it breaks the security model of HTTPS (see article for more info). Plus additional code paths could be sources of bugs/exploits, particularly old/rarely updated ones.

You can justify removing anything with "less code paths." I hate that argument. Don't care about FTP being insecure either. Google's just being hostile to the open web as usual and getting the usual applause.

> Don't care about FTP being insecure either.

Well, then its probably a good thing that you aren't a browser developer.

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#65

Post by cameronbrown »

mlyle wrote: post #43
kart23 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a 6th grader using filezilla to update his website the other day. 99% of people didnt know what ftp was 10 years ago, that hasn't changed. Every generation loves to trash the one below it, that certainly will never change.

I think it's a lot harder to become technically competent these days. Before, computers compelled you to have a certain level of technical competence to be a user. Now, the barrier to entry is a lot lower, but there aren't many of the very young learning their way around command lines, etc. The resources once you are on the track to doing technical stuff are far better, but you're less likely to end up on that track-…

> Now, the barrier to entry is a lot lower, but there aren't many of the very young learning their way around command lines, etc.

I'm a fairly young person. What I've seen over the past few years is technology is finally useful and accessible to everyone. Forcing people to use the command line isn't a useful skill for 99.5% of people anymore, it's just senseless gatekeeping to make it a computer requirement. I got into computers by ripping into Windows XP internals and learning how it worked when I was a kid, no command line needed.

There will always be people who are more curious about how things work. Have faith that kids are smart enough to use the internet to learn for themselves.

Just because technology is easier does not mean it's harder to learn how to be "technically competent". Remember that the definition of technically competent moves with the times, too.

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#66

Post by userbinator »

Considering that Google (search) still lists plenty of FTP results, many of which have been extremely useful to me, this seems like another move to bully the Internet into what Google wants it to be. Will it start removing those results, effectively censoring another huge chunk of the Internet? It's already hard enough to find older/more obscure information, and FTP sites are more likely to be in that category.

Also, I can't be the only one who's absolutely sick of hearing that bloody "security" argument again. Yes, everyone knows FTP is plaintext, and so is HTTP. But drivers, which I'd say are a significant part of FTP use, are almost always themselves signed anyway, and I don't think malware is widely distributed via FTP either (I'm curious why FTPS/SFTP doesn't see to be indexed, or why they didn't decide to add that to the browser instead --- or at least I've never come across a search result that links to one.)

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#67

Post by lazylizard »

georgebarnett wrote: post #9
subsubsub wrote: post #4

Google don't want users, they want pliant consumers. The idea that young people know more about tech than their parents will become less and less true in the future.

Why do we need a separate legacy protocol for file transfers? What’s the benefit in keeping protocols for the sake of it?

Ftp is fast

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#68

Post by userbinator »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #52
tim58 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not fine with this. I'm of the mindset that code written 20 years ago should run today. This is a breaking change on a critical piece of internet infrastructure. Google, by nature of operating the most popular web browser, has a moral obligation to the community to provide a stable environment. There are something like 10^9 webpages out there. How many of these will become less accessible because of this change?…

The same could have been said of Gopher. FTP is typically insecure and painful to use with it's varying port maps. Transferring files over HTTP or more modern protocols is the future.

Transferring files over HTTP or more modern protocols is the future

My direct and blunt rebuttal is "I don't care". The future is worthless without the present, and more importantly, the past. The continued effective destruction of history that these big tech companies are doing with their actions is a disturbing trend.

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#69

Post by takeda »

Pxtl wrote: post #51

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Windows and most Linux distros both come with usable ftp clients in general. So an ftp link will result in the OS handling it, right? And so it opens in IE or Filezilla or whatever. That's fine... Except on a Chromebook or Android, where it will be a pain.

> And so it opens in IE or Filezilla or whatever.

Aren't you forgetting that IE is a web browser, so are you suggesting it should just offload ftp:// links to another browser?

Also, IE is deprecated and replaced by Edge which is now essentially Chrome, so eventually won't work there as well.

Re: Google Plans to Deprecate FTP URL Support in Chrome

#70

Post by takeda »

pedrocx486 wrote: post #57
foobarbecue wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows comes with an ftp client? Not that I know of. Unless you mean MS Edge? Oh or I guess there's a command line one. It's not integrated into Windows Explorer, though.

Windows Explorer can navigate (and transfer files) on FTPs. Type "ftp://ip.addr.of.ftp" in explorer and you're in. :-)

That's because it shares code base with IE, a web browser.

Here we are talking about removing FTP from a browser.

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