4/14 Announcement: What Happened to Nightscrawlers Chat?
Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:38 am
If you click Chat in the links bar above, you might notice that Nightscrawlers Chat looks just a little different! We have discontinued use of our Java client and switched fully to use of the AJAX Web client we had as our "backup" before. We did this for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, Java has recently changed their security model to more strongly discourage use of "untrusted" applications. Our Java client used to be considered a trusted application because it was only connecting to its own host; now, it is considered untrusted by all browsers. We applaud this change from a security standpoint, but it means that either: all of our Java chat users must find their Java control panel and add chat.nightscrawlers.com to a relatively inaccessible host exclusions list; or that we have to pay at least $200/year for a code signing certificate on top of our existing yearly costs for the server hosting Nightscrawlers Chat. Neither of these prospects was particularly appealing.
In addition, use of an AJAX Web client means that our chat users don't have to have Java, Flash, or any other plugins installed to play! This client even works on many mobile devices. Unlike the Web client we were using twelve years ago (!), this client requires minimal bandwidth overhead as compared to the Java client and it has every capability thereof. We hope that you'll find the new chat experience much less disruptive, much easier, and much more portable.
Surely there's still a lot that can be done to improve the experience. Please feel free to reply with any and all suggestions for improvements and we'll see what we can do!
Thanks,
-HoodedMan
Executive/Technical Administrator
Firstly, Java has recently changed their security model to more strongly discourage use of "untrusted" applications. Our Java client used to be considered a trusted application because it was only connecting to its own host; now, it is considered untrusted by all browsers. We applaud this change from a security standpoint, but it means that either: all of our Java chat users must find their Java control panel and add chat.nightscrawlers.com to a relatively inaccessible host exclusions list; or that we have to pay at least $200/year for a code signing certificate on top of our existing yearly costs for the server hosting Nightscrawlers Chat. Neither of these prospects was particularly appealing.
In addition, use of an AJAX Web client means that our chat users don't have to have Java, Flash, or any other plugins installed to play! This client even works on many mobile devices. Unlike the Web client we were using twelve years ago (!), this client requires minimal bandwidth overhead as compared to the Java client and it has every capability thereof. We hope that you'll find the new chat experience much less disruptive, much easier, and much more portable.
Surely there's still a lot that can be done to improve the experience. Please feel free to reply with any and all suggestions for improvements and we'll see what we can do!
Thanks,
-HoodedMan
Executive/Technical Administrator
