Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!usc!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU!mouse
From: mouse@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Spy X Window
Message-ID: <9007160508.AA17329@Larry.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
Date: 16 Jul 90 05:08:25 GMT
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 40

>> I need some X help.

>> I want to "monitor" a window on another machine from my machine.  I
>> have source for all software running but would rather not modify any
>> of it.  I have full control of unix permissions etc.

> Is this ethical?  Is there a good reason for doing this?  I'd be
> majorly pissed off if someone was watching me - even more so if I
> didn't even know I was being watched.  What is the reason for the Big
> Brother attitude?

There is not necessarily a Big Brother attitude involved.  If I'm at my
desk and someone three buildings away has a problem and wants help,
quite likely both of us would appreciate having a way for me to watch
exactly what goes on when whatever it is fails.

> How is this tool going to be useful to you?

I wrote a terminal emulator for X that is capable of displaying on more
than one display, thus providing effectively what this person was
asking for (in the admittedly limited realm of things that run in a tty
emulator window[%]).  The multi-display capability has proven useful on
several occasions, usually for showing someone something, which is what
I had in mind when I added it.  (Imagine a classroom full of
workstations.  Now run one copy displaying everywhere but with input
from only the teacher's workstation, plus one copy per student
displaying on student's station and teacher's station both, with input
from either.  To my mind this is not significantly different from a
situation like a language lab I was in once, where we were normally
practicing alone but the teacher could hook into any student's set at
will and monitor and/or comment; nobody questions whether this is
ethical....)

[%] And with certain other restrictions, notably that the multi-display
    arrangement must be set up when the emulator is started.

					der Mouse

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