dstiles - 11:26 pm on Feb 5, 2009 (gmt 0)

To me it looks as if the people developing this stuff are not talking to their security people.

Because of Javascript malware exploits there is an increasing trend to block Javascript on sites, especially if it's an unknown one. Through lack of technical knowledge or through laziness many people block pretty near all sites (I see examples of this daily). I think people's wariness/awareness at present is low but with every virus caught it is sure to increase to the point where Javascript will be blocked as routine.

The current status of Firefox's NoScript is:
921,785 weekly downloads
41,530,931 total downloads

Firefox currently has between 18% and 50% of the browser market, depending on whose stats you use. No doubt there is or soon will be a similar block app for MSIE.

Another point I think google may try to adopt is to make links active via JS. I visit several sites that work that way and they do NOT get my custom once I hit an inactive link. Presumably google will provide for non-JS browsers (I noted such a comment earlier in this thread).

Many people cannot manage stats for themselves and I doubt most of my customers would be able to manage or understand GA: some can barely manage to hit the Compile Stats button on their web sites.

Many people don't like visiting GA-enabled sites because of the sluggishness of GA itself.

Is it possible google are driving down a blind alley?

Just my tuppence-worth.