Why is everybody unhappy that Microsoft announced they are adding JavaScript to Excel? I personally think it's a great idea. Excel is already one of the most accessible-to-newbies programming environments, and JS has much better developer mind share nowadays vs VBA.
I would assume this is not for privileged macros but for code embedded in spreadsheets that's equivalent to formulas. If it only works with macros enabled it's a complete non-issue since macros should always be forcibly disabled.
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Why don't you want macros ever enabled? IMO having scripting/macro interfaces to everything is a good thing - it allows users to plug together tools in unforseen ways. "Click here to enable macros and pwn me" sucks, but macros themselves seem like a great feature.
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If they were actually an embedded language with no access to the world outside the document, sure. They're not. Code (that runs as user) does not belong in documents, EVER. Users do not understand the risks/consequences and never will.
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But a sandbox like that defeats the whole point? For example, I've recently been using a proprietary circuit simulator, and it exposes an XML-RPC interface. Because of that, I can hook it up to Python, NumPy, and the kitchen sink. That wouldn't work if you had a sandboxed lang.
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There's no reason that couldn't be hooked up with it properly contained. Ability to receive or make some kind of socket connections does not depend on or imply ability to CreateProcess or similar.
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But why add these extra restrictions? You never know what some user might want to do with a scripting interface. Rather than gimping it in the name of security, why not try and think about how to fix obtaining user consent (which is a mess on desktop anyways)?
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Where did you find this user who doesn't just click through every warning ever invented because they thought a document "looked important"? I'd like to meet him/her.
End of conversation
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