[mherkender]

It's nice to be able to flash something without having to give some random software access to your computer, or having to build three different versions of a device flasher for each major OS. It's boosted adoption of ESPHome devices.

[marcosdumay]

Except that you are giving some random software access to your computer, and it's not even software you can decided when to install and update.

[mherkender]

I use Linux so I do have a great deal of control over the version of Chrome I occasionally use.

[immibis]

The software is downloaded from a web server.

[mherkender]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. My point is that it's sandboxed in the browser.

[immibis]

You gave that software access to your computer and you don't even control when it updates.

[mherkender]

I get that you're trying to win the argument, but you're being opaque.

Any ESP device I have isn't even connected to the Internet so I do control when it updates.

[immibis]

But you just did give some random software access to your computer.

[mherkender]

When did I do that? WebUSB gives a website access to a specific USB device, not my entire computer.

[immibis]

Access to a programmable USB device is access to your entire computer. They can program it to emulate a mouse and accept more permissions.

[mherkender]

I don't see how WebUSB makes that risk worse. At least I avoid making it easy and running somebody's firmware updater on my computer.