Nkrs
I'm done with computers. wicg.github.io/webusb
Martijn
Makes sense, Google should have started on this years ago. I recently had a discussion about the Chromebook and it came down to that it doesn't work because we need (want) file handling. I need to be able to download a file, open it with app of my choice, upload it to website of my choice, without having to rely on an app implementing one of thousands of cloud storage solutions. If Chrome OS (and by extension, Chrome the browser) had better file and system handling, that would have made a huge difference. Maybe.
Nkrs
It probably is for Chrome OS. My beef with this project is security: USB standard was made 20 years ago, and there still are security flaws found. Couple that with web, where new security holes are found every week, and you have a recipe for disaster. I don't see why a web page would need or want low-level access to hardware anyway, that problem should be in the domain of the operating system.
Mark Dain
Low level access, sure. Do you think the browser could sandbox this enough or is it a case of visiting websites and getting a BSOD like in the 90's? IIRC there was a time you could read file:// from JavaScript.
Nkrs
They'd really have to put a lot of work into securing it, that's for sure. Websites that can access USB devices can exploit the access for malicious stuff - recording from a web camera or a microphone, accessing memory from flash drives and other devices with memory (like a phone that's connected to the computer via cable), printers and scanners - you name it.