[thelist] tools requiring/using remote server connection (was RE: ajax broken with url rewriting)

[Joel D Canfield]

> http://www.joehewitt.com/software/firebug/

this is the second tool I've installed recently that filters whatever
I'm doing through the developer's web server to function.

is this common, or becoming so? due to my experience with the other FF
add-on (it never did connect to their server, so I've yet to see the
tool work) I'm leary of growing dependent on a tool that requires
someone else's web server to be online/available.

I'm also leary of a tool which does this but allows me to discover it on
my own rather than stating up front "we'll essentially be hijacking the
address field of your browser when you use our tool" (one of my personal
quirks is that I tend to look at the address bar more than the browser
title, so when it's wonky, it bothers me.)

is it just me?

joel