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Jan 5, 2004, 9:24pm

Immigration Officer: Welcome to the Active Worlds Universe! :) All users
please note, due to an increase in stolen accounts Activeworlds Inc.
strongly suggests that users do NOT install third party applications
unless they are from a reputable source.

What certifies a website as a reputable source? does that mean if its a
geocitis site it is not a reputable source but if it is a domain like a
..com it is a reputable source? there can be viruses on a .com site too

and how would a nebie know if the Xelagot, for example, program is from
a reputable source? there is not like a "Certified Virus-Free" seal for
websites, and if there was anybody can forge it.

so maybe Activeworlds should put a page on their site listing all the
3rd-party activeworlds related programs that are "Certified virus-free"
by activeworlds themself. i think this would be great! (i know there is
a listing of 3rd Party Products on
http://www.activeworlds.com/products/download.asp but that list is so
not up to date, heck Xelagot, Demeter, and many others are not on it!)

i know there is a list of bots on the
http://www.awcommunity.org/objects/links.html page, but no newbies know
the url to that site and it havent been updated in ages i think. I just
would perfer it on the Active Worlds website.

Jan 5, 2004, 9:46pm

One of the benefits of a formal developers program is that the
developers need to register in order to obtain the SDK, and
many developer programs have a testing component to them for
third party materials.

The 3D tool vendors are a good example of an industry that
thrives by encouraging and incorporating third party technologies
into their product (if Microsoft is not a good enough example).

Given that an AW world is arguably non-functional without a
minimal bot of some sort (i.e. delete all your objects and try to
seed one with just your browser), I agree that they should provide
more in the way of a 'bot' toolkit for the general user and world
owners.

I also think they should have a formal developers program so
that any interested developer can register, obtain support for
creating value added tools for AW technology, obtain press
kit materials to help publicize AW technology along with any
value added products they create, and list and distribute any
value added tools through Activeworlds.

While AWI may not have the resources to certify everything
that would be submitted, the people who would register for
such a program would most definitely have the means and
willingness to check out any new bots and report any trojans
or other issues.

[View Quote]

Jan 5, 2004, 9:52pm

I just wanted to add..

Everyone has seen that whenever a new bot is posted in the newsgroup,
half a dozen people have looked it over within an hour and ensured
that there is at least no obvious virus or trojan.

If, as you suggested, AW simply had a page where you could obtain
bots, then it could be a reasonably safe place for most people to obtain
one **provided that the bots were served from AW servers and not
links to offsite locations**.

Jan 6, 2004, 3:03am

there was an org once that had people that tore a program apart to scan for
any viruses and/or trojans and approved files...and people downloaded them
from there.....

hmm i'm thinking of starting another group like that...but i'd have to find
some people who know what the heck they're doing with programs...

anyone intrested gram me.

--
Brock
AW: 308723

Administrator:
IceFlare Starbeam Network
IceFlare Digital Entertainment

[View Quote]

Jan 6, 2004, 3:12am

[View Quote] Safest way is to have people submit their sourcecode and have the
organization recompile it themselves.

--
--Bowen--
http://bowen.homelinux.com
Give me ideajuice.

Jan 7, 2004, 4:48pm

*makes note* uninstall Active Worlds software

~John

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