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Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

airbornos.com

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Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#81
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Request: I'd like to post an item based on the website description showing the image of encrypted contents and hashed filenames. I cannot extract that image (useful collateral) from your page on Android given page presentation.

Here's a link: https://www.airbornos.com/images/documents-encrypted.png

Thanks!

Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#82
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main use case for Docs is collaborative fiction writing. There's no concept of "paragraph ownership"; there will be two or more people editing the document, and we'll go over it a half-doze or more times, editing as we go. The ability to make arbitrary changes is essential for this.

There's no permanent paragraph ownership in Airborn OS either, but it's locked for about 10 seconds when you edit a paragraph. Or are you saying that the two editors would be editing the same paragraph at the same time?

Yes, that also happens frequently.

Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#83
post #26
post #20

To solve this, [...use Service Workers] to install some code which can't be changed without setting off a warning to you. How does that work? Isn't a service worker started by plain JS code?

Yes, it is, but after that, it stays installed and runs before you open the web app the next time. In effect, this makes it trust-on-first use, just like if you'd install a desktop app which then had some secure update mechanism.

Can service worker’s code ever be updated by the hacker? How does this actually work?

Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#84
post #83
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is, but after that, it stays installed and runs before you open the web app the next time. In effect, this makes it trust-on-first use, just like if you'd install a desktop app which then had some secure update mechanism.

Can service worker’s code ever be updated by the hacker? How does this actually work?

Yes, it can, but whenever the Service Worker's code changes, the user is warned. There's an "updatefound" event [1] which both the web page and the old Service Worker get. I wrote a blog post with more background info at [2].

Of course, it would be better to only warn the user if the Service Worker changes if it doesn't match the version on GitHub, but that's blocked on [3].

Furthermore, there are some very edge-case situations where the Service Worker can update when Airborn OS is not open or not visible (e.g., in a hidden iframe [4]). That is why, when you register and check "Notify me before updating Airborn OS", it asks you for permission to send you notifications. Those notifications are currently only used to warn you when the Service Worker updates.

[1]: https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/API/ServiceWorkerRegi...

[2]: http://blog.airbornos.com/post/2017/08/03/Transparent-Web-Ap...

[3]: https://github.com/w3c/ServiceWorker/issues/1208

[4]: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=773307, but it's not a browser bug. I should file a spec bug, but I'm still waiting for a reply on [3], too.

Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#85
post #71

It breaks the back button (stuck in a reloading loop). That alone is enough to make me move on, regardless of the potential privacy benefits.

Yeah, it does that in Firefox, sorry about that. It works in Chrome.

Hopefully you can get it fixed in other browsers. My apologies for this, but I find it amusing that a Google services alternative works better in a Google provided browser. :-)

Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#87
post #86

Looks really slick! You should consider adding word support. Support for office XML formats[1] are simple enough to hand-roll. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_XML_formats

Also, consider placing print preview near the print command, or vise versa. Having two locations that contain the same type of functionality can be confusing.

Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#88
post #3

Good timing with Google incorrectly flagging some Docs as abusive? ( https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/zmz3yw/why-is-my-... )

Yes, totally. A completely new service that has quality controls so tight they'd never use white-on-light-blue text for their website is much more likely to be reliable than the world's largest internet company, considering the latter just today had a bug affecting about 1 in 500,000 users before it was fixed two hours later.

Re: Show HN: Airborn – Private Google Docs Alternative

#89
post #87
post #86

Looks really slick! You should consider adding word support. Support for office XML formats[1] are simple enough to hand-roll. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_XML_formats

Also, consider placing print preview near the print command, or vise versa. Having two locations that contain the same type of functionality can be confusing.

Good idea, thanks!
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