[widgets] Minutes from 29 May 2008 Voice Conference

The minutes from the WAF WG's May 22 Widgets voice conference are  
available at the following and copied below:

  <http://www.w3.org/2008/05/29-waf-minutes.html>

WG Members - if you have any comments, corrections, etc., please send  
them to the public-appformats mail list before June 5; otherwise the  
minutes will be considered approved.

-Regards, Art Barstow

    [1]W3C

       [1] http://www.w3.org/

                                - DRAFT -

                        Widgets Voice Conference

29 May 2008

    [2]Agenda

       [2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/member-appformats/ 
2008May/0011.html

    See also: [3]IRC log

       [3] http://www.w3.org/2008/05/29-waf-irc

Attendees

    Present
           Art, Claudio, Marcos, Arve, Mike

    Regrets
           Ben, Benoit

    Chair
           Art

    Scribe
           Art

Contents

      * [4]Topics
          1. [5]Review Agenda
          2. [6]Announcements
          3. [7]Auto-updates
          4. [8]Widget Resource on the Web
          5. [9]XML File
          6. [10]Local Storage model (sub-proposal #3)
          7. [11]API Call model (sub-proposal #4)
          8. [12]WebApps WG Charter Update
          9. [13]Next F2F Meeting
      * [14]Summary of Action Items
      _________________________________________________________


    Date: 29 May 2008

    <scribe> Scribe: Art

    <scribe> ScribeNick: ArtB

    Regrests: Ben, Benoit

Review Agenda

    AB: any change requested?

    [None]

Announcements

    AB: next week's meeting June 5 - start time will be ONE HOUR
    EARLIER!

Auto-updates

    AB: proposal from Marcos
    [15]http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-appformats/2008May/01
    24.html
    ... is this your proposal or did you work with Arve?

      [15] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-appformats/ 
2008May/0124.html

    MC: this started as my input but reflects comments from Arve, Mark
    Baker and JonF
    ... this proposal includes several mechanisms

    AB: orthoganal or complementary mechanisms?

    MC: some are complementary and some are orthoganal
    ... there are four mechanism described in varying levels of detail

    CV: agree some mechanisms are complementary but they seem to address
    different use cases
    ... e.g. the 2nd mechanism gives some additional flexibility
    ... it could be viewed as an extension to the 1st proposal

    ABe: the 2nd mechanism (XML file) can be done via a push to the UA

    MC: using the hash is kinda' of a cheap dig sig scheme thus another
    good thing about the XML format

    AB: of these mechanisms, which is most commonly implemented today?

    MC: #3 (local storage) is the most common i.e. just download a new
    widget
    ... pretty much just leaves the details to the UA
    ... and hence doesn't require much standardization

    ABe: these proposals are still a bit short on details
    ... think we need to explore the alternatives some more

    MC: agree; I've started to expand the examples
    ... I will also include the various usage scenarios

    AB: that would be excellent; we can then analyze the various
    strengths and weakness of the different models

Widget Resource on the Web

    <marcos> <update url="http:/a.com/myWidget.wgt"
    etag="36f4d2e876c5c51:b74"/>

    MC: this model requires author to include an update element with a
    URI attribute
    ... the etag attr would be optional
    ... if etag is present can compare it with what is installed; if
    different, assume a new widget exists

    AB: we discussed that mechanism last year, right?

    MC: yes, Mark Baker suggested the etag
    ... if etag is missing, the UA asks the user if they want to update
    the widget
    ... this model uses HTTP caching mechanism

    ABe: not sure what happens if the widget was obtained via some
    non-http protocol e.g. Bluetooth
    ... think there is a trust issue with this model e.g. where did the
    widget really come from

    MC: right, a Widget could be copied from one site and installed
    somewhere else

    ABe: I'm concerned about tampering of un-signed widgets
    ... the update URI could have been altered by some means
    ... or the etag could be tampered

    MC: yes, but I don't think we want to prescribe encryption

    ABe: but the update document could be signed

    MC: can also require httpS
    ... in the web today we see this issue being addressed by asking the
    user if they really want to install something (e.g. FF installed
    from a non-Mozilla site)

    ABe: the main thing we must do is to clearly identify the security
    considerations

XML File

    ABe: an advantage of this model is the update format can be signed
    ... I think we need to flesh-out both of these models

    MC: I think we should document both models

    AB: would the server need to do anything special in this model?

    MC: no it would not
    ... the update format could be done by hand given it is quite simple

    AB: is this model being used today?

    MC: yes it is being used by numerous systems (iTunes, Debian, ...)
    ... this is certainly more common than model #1

    AB: what is the user interaction model for the XML format?

    MC: one mechanism is the UA just tells the user a new version is
    available
    ... another interaction model is a user explicitly checks a "check
    for updates" sheet

    ABe: I don't think we want to normatively specify the user
    interaction model
    ... especially since the update could be done auto-magically
    [withouth any user interaction at all]

    MC: agree

    AB: agree too

    CV: the spec should enable different user interaction models
    ... want to leave both user interaction models open

    MC: we will not recommend any user interaction model

    CV: data exchange from device to server is important for operators
    ... the update process could be used to do advertising

    MC: yes but such a widget would become un-popular

Local Storage model (sub-proposal #3)

    MC: the UA compares the current widget id with the new widget

    AB: will you Marcos submit details for this model too?

    MC: yes there are some additional details to flesh out

API Call model (sub-proposal #4)

    MC: author provides an update element in the config doc
    ... at runtime the script in the engine calls the update() method
    ... this causes the UA to ask the server for a new Widget
    ... basically, this would trigger model #1 or model #2

    AB: will this one also be further explored?

    MC: yes; in particular will need to add it to the API spec

    ABe: yes, this will need to be detailed in the API spec

WebApps WG Charter Update

    MS: the comment period has ended
    ... Doug has responded to all comments
    ... He has updated the charter to reflect the comments
    ... The deliverables list has been updated
    ... Most of the AC commentors are OK with the Team's responses
    ... we expected comments about too many deliverables but we didn't
    get such feedback
    ... the only exception is Geo-location
    ... we expect to do the Geo-location API in a separate WG but that's
    not yet a done deal because we first have to get AC review
    ... Access Control will remain in the WebApps WG

    AB: thanks Mike
    ... our Charter ends May 31

    MS: yes, we will need another short extension

    AB: thanks to Mike and Doug for all of the time and effort they've
    put into getting this done!

Next F2F Meeting

    <MikeSmith> for the record, Doug did almost all of the work on the
    charter and disposition comments (not me)

    AB: the majority of preferences expressed in Dublin were to have the
    next f2f in early September
    ... I'm happy to say Claudio can accomdate that
    ... next f2f meeting will be Sept 9-11 in Turin Italy

    <scribe> ACTION: barstow announce Sept 9-11 to the WG [recorded in
    [16]http://www.w3.org/2008/05/29-waf-minutes.html#action01]

    <trackbot-ng> Created ACTION-179 - Announce Sept 9-11 to the WG [on
    Arthur Barstow - due 2008-06-05].

    <scribe> ACTION: barstow review TPAC meeting schedule and forward to
    the WG [recorded in
    [17]http://www.w3.org/2008/05/29-waf-minutes.html#action02]

    <trackbot-ng> Created ACTION-180 - Review TPAC meeting schedule and
    forward to the WG [on Arthur Barstow - due 2008-06-05].

    AB: Meeting Adjourned

Summary of Action Items

    [NEW] ACTION: barstow announce Sept 9-11 to the WG [recorded in
    [18]http://www.w3.org/2008/05/29-waf-minutes.html#action01]
    [NEW] ACTION: barstow review TPAC meeting schedule and forward to
    the WG [recorded in
    [19]http://www.w3.org/2008/05/29-waf-minutes.html#action02]

    [End of minutes]
  
  

Received on Thursday, 29 May 2008 12:43:57 UTC