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149 Comments
- Norweed, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36I'm guessing because the server side is written in java and the client side is a browser that's updated using AJAX?
- drye, on 10/12/2007, -4/+35Anyone else scarred to run a jar from some guy you have no idea what could be going on there...
- NJank, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29JAVA app on server, serves up AJAX for client. Yes, it's AJAX.
- dmorel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+26let's clear some things up here...
Java on the server, AJAX on the client...
FTFA:
You would probably only use this if you cannot setup a VNC connection due to network restrictions.
So, yes, it's AJAX, and he knows about VNC... - heffer2k02, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20The server is a java applet. It serves AJAX to the client that autoupdates a grid of images on the webpage that contain the changes on the remote desktop. So yes, this is an AJAX remote desktop - exactly as the title says.
Is an AJAX page served by apache not AJAX because apache is written in C? - bogomill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16@kordless
Did you even try it? You are supposed to run the jar on the computer that you want to connect to remotely. Then you connect to that computer using a web browser. The remote desktop is rendered *inside* the browser as an HTML page using AJAX. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Geez guys - YES, it's a JAVA application running on the web server...
That Java application serves up an AJAX enabled web page that allows the viewer to see the desktop of the server.
BOTH technologies come into play.
DOH! CrazyScnts beat me to it! - Norweed, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20LOL what are you talking about?
AJAX is just means: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. however, it need not be Asynchronous, nor use JavaScript, nor use XML....soo basically AJAX is just an idea. In addition, IT'S THE FREAKING SERVER THAT'S WRITTEN IN JAVA. notice the .jar file....why don't you use wikipedia to tell you what a .jar file is?
Some people I tell you. - CrazyScntst, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16You guys are missing the point. This app allows a remote desktop session over HTTP. It doesn't matter that the server part is written in JAVA. The point here is that the communication with the server is only over HTTP and javascript (hence AJAX) in a web browser.
- hchaudh1, on 10/12/2007, -7/+18@frebis
Not to be overly crazy about this but how is Java even related to JavaScript? They are 2 totally different technologies. Neither has any bearing on the other. You can make them work with each other, but in separate sand boxes. - Norweed, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Did you even read the article or are you just jumping on the java != AJAX bandwagon. The ***** server is coded in java moron.
- ascheinberg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I have read several comments about this being Java and not AJAX, but those people misunderstand what this is.
The Java part (the JAR file) is an app running as a server on a PC. The difference is that apps like VNC actually serve you - the client - an applet which runs in your browser, so the remote machine is using Java too. This app claims to serve the client HTML and Javascript/XMLHttpReq(), hence AJAX.
If you can run a desktop remotely using only HTML and Javascript, that's a big deal, since no app I know of does just this. I don't know what type of performance lots of mini-HTTP requests will yield, but I'm guessing that since AJAX is in the title, several people will prefer it to a more standard, persistent applet. - 0xced, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I'll say it once more, THIS IS AJAX! Proof in 3 steps:
1. Run the java server: java -jar AjaxRemoteDesktop.jar -p:53504
2. Open your browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:53504/remotedesktop.html
3. View source:
req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.onreadystatechange = processReqChange;
req.open("GET", url, true);
req.send(null);
...
Who still wants to say it's not AJAX ? - chucker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Kinda neat. And yes, it's AJAX, on the client side. The *server* is in Java.
However, the thing takes up way too much CPU time and has some serious refresh problems. So, not much more than a proof of concept. - tghw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9No, this is completely different from vncviewer. The Java part is a web server which doles out AJAX'd pages for the viewer.
- deadmoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11It is no different from using that shareware demo that you just downloaded.
- Grimboy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12olegk, info: You're idiots for thinking: Uhh, it's a jar uhh... must be an applet. Why the ***** did you get digged so high. Oh, that's right, nobody else reads it anyway.
Not so, you have to run the server for this locally for priviacy and bandwidth reasons. - osilus, on 10/12/2007, -14/+22I could be wrong about this, but hasn't VNC had this feature for some time?
- zoxed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I am guessing the potentially usefull feature which (AFAIK) VNC does not have is covered in:
"You would probably only use this if you cannot setup a VNC connection due to network restrictions. This should work fine over a corporate firewall and proxy as all requests are over HTTP." - Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Seems pretty cool. I get a few broken images with every refresh but it has a lot of potential.
Digg++ - V3X3D, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7cpu ussage 89% :|
nice tool however, needs a bit of developing. Looking forward to use it incase vnc is restricted on the network - badangel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7How ignorant some people can get?
The .jar is simply an http server that provides AJAX content to your browser when you visit it!
Why is it so difficult to grasp ?
I hate when people go mark something as inaccurate just because they have limited understanding of the topic
Antonis - Norweed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7and it wasn't sold as more than that.
KPbEc
People on here (not you just in general) love to jump all over things and call them in accurate. In the process they usually make themselves look like idiots, but somtimes the stupid people win out and a story get marked as inaccurate. Note yesterday's .999...=1 page.
People should have 3 strikes and if they mod something as inaccurate more than 3 times when a sorry is infact accurate they should have to forfit their digg account. - ascalonx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I wish some of you people knew what the hell you were talking about. It's a java http server that takes a screen capture and cuts it into little images that are served up using Asynchronous Javascript + XML. No, java and javascript are not the same thing (though there are libraries that can make connections between the two) and no, I'm not digging because it has the word ajax in it. I digg because it's a cool idea and I'd like to give the guy a pat on the back for having an idea and doing the work to see how it came out.
- Jakelshark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6it would be great if you could cast a "this is accurate information" vote to help counteract the stupid factor...
- thomashallock, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8THIS IS AJAX. "View Source" of the page when you go to see your desktop. It has a grid of images that are continuously updated, through AJAX, so it doesn't have to re-load the page all the time. Yes, there is a Java program running in the background doing most of the work, but the browser part is certianly updated through XMLHTTPRequest.
- plingboot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9>No...I don't see the difference. Many VNCservers will open a port
>and you can access the computer using any java enabled web
>browser by going to http://host:port and logging in. It sounds like
> these people did the same thing, called it AJAX (although it seems
> they may have used Java instead of Javascript making that
>inaccurate) and then they tried to sell it as something new and
> amazing.
You're an idiot.
This is a server side app (written in java, but that's not important) sending AJAX Javascript / HTML via a browser. This is not a java applet. - kimos, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Super cool! Seems to work, but freaks out pretty hard if you try to open localhost with it... Kinda like the infinite mirror tunnel thing.
No source though... That's too bad... - carpediem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The client is Ajax. That's the whole point of this. With the VNC Java applet client, the end-user must have Java installed and working. This is far from 100% of the population, thanks to the lack of cooperation from Microsoft, the lack of Java on some Linux distributions, and the lack of Java on many handheld devices. With the Ajax client, anyone running IE, Firefox (or any other Mozilla gecko-based browser), or Opera should be able to run this remote desktop client. Further, Java applets often have issues running through corporate proxy servers.
This can be a problem either on the server side or client side. This won't have that issue - if the browser works through the firewall, so will this.
Not everything needs to be done in Ajax simply for the fun of it, but this is one thing that gets many advantages by running via Ajax. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+13Did Mario or Luigi post this?
"...using a just a web browser."
Mama Mia! That's a digg-a for me! - exaviger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5No, the difference is that is runs in a web-browser using ajax and not an applet hence not requiring the end user to have the JRE installed.
The fact that it is written in java on the server side is completly irrelevent. - macatak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The comments on this story are funny. I had no idea so few people on digg can recognise an AJAX app.
- carpediem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4've got news for you - you don't know what you're talking about. TightVNC uses a Java applet. This is Ajax, and that's the whole point.
- deadmoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You should check out Mirkov, if you are looking for a backdoor program similar to this.
http://www.megasecurity.org/trojans/m/mirkov4/Mirkov4_1.1.html - DickBreath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4ME ME ME!!! Do I win! Yes I'm paranoid!
I ran it under an MS Virtual Server 2005 (you know, the free one). Then connected to it with FireFox from different computer. Yep. It does what it says. The Java is a server, it serves html/javascript to the browser. The browser shows a continuously updating picture of the server's desktop. (Every second or so.)
Whether it did anything undesirable on the server machine I do not know, but hey, it's a virtual machine that I have already destroyed.
I did unzip the jar file. (You know that all JAR files are just Zip files, just as all OpenOffice.org documents are just Zip files.) Very few classes, with obvious seeming class names. So nothing seems odd at that level. I did not look deeper into the class file binaries. No source code is included.
So it does *at least* what it is advertised to do. I cannot say it does nothing more, but it does not *appear* to do so.
I suppose I could run compare the filesystems and registries of the before and after disk images of the virtual machine, but who has time. Now I could also try running this jar file on a virtual machine running Linux. I might actually try that! - mooninite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Runs great on Linux, FYI.
- Grimboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3From what I know VNC should usually be tunneled through ssh, then just make a key, and you're off.
- hypnotiq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is a great tool. I would love to see further development
- naich, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6OK, it's cool but it could be a used as a hacking tool - just trick someone into running it and watch them remotely.
- EgoDemens, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That uses an activeX version of the regular RDP Client (mstsc.exe) This is using nothing more than JS on a web page. So the result is the same, but this version does not require the ability to use activeX.
- PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3But this does use asynchronous requests to receive the blocks of screen. See a comment above, read the source.
- jpf., on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Runs great on Mac OS X.
- exaviger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2my god you are an idiot! Look at the source of the html you moron! The jar file is simply a java server running on the machine to supply ajax content to your browser.
- awhiteflame, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Very very cool. Tons of potential. Only issue here was the fact it shot CPU usage up running with no viewers, but I'm sure that could be resolved with work.
Very nice idea. - zerovertex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ran it. It works well. Great for spying on a remote machine from a browser.
- exaviger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I havent looked at it but I assume it uses the java.awt.Robot class to get the screen dump for your desktop. Obviously that is the simple part, very cool none the less.
- sirchadlington, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2interesting. So it basically takes screenshots of your screen and positions them as layered little boxes that you can drag around??? Can you actually interact with the remote desktop, or is it just for VIEWING?? It says it can be used for 'presentations'... so I assume you could see powerpoint running and then send a command to go to the next slide, etc via the ajax desktop..........
- carpediem, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Because, this doesn't rely on Java (an applet) on the client. Running the VNC Java applet on port 80 still requires Java on the client. This only relies on a browser that supports Javascript and the XMLHttpRequest object (most modern browsers).
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Unless mediatedthought means about random people connecting to it, or using it as a backdoor : if it's run (say from a browser) without your permission, I'd hope you have a software firewall (or router or similar) that will stop anyone connecting without your permission
I'd deffintly not replace [Real/Tight/Ultr@]VNC with it yet, it's just a proof of concept app just now, but if you do have a specific reason for wanting to use it, I'd strongly recommend using SSH tunneling to do it (google for 'SSH tunnel VNC'), espically if you use linux/OS X (both have built in SSH servers most of the time)
- Ben - DrBones, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4logmein.com provides amazing (and free) remote web based remote access using activex, java, or html (though html is kind of lame). works on my mac, ubuntu, and xp boxes. only windows hosts though for now.
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