Richard Stallman, frontman of the Free Software Foundation, has shifted his attention towards web applications. "In the free software community, the idea that non-free programs mistreat their users is familiar. Some of us refuse entirely to install proprietary software, and many others consider non-freedom a strike against the program. Many users are aware that this issue applies to the plug-ins that browsers offer to install, since they can be free or non-free. But browsers run other non-free programs which they don't ask you about or even tell you aboutâ"programs that web pages contain or link to. These programs are most often written in Javascript, though other languages are also used."
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Member since:2006-09-18
Why is the server side different ethically? Just curious, it seems like if you're sending your data to be manipulated then sent back you should know what was done to it.
It doesn't seem much different than if the program was executing entirely on your computer and half was open source and half binary blobs.
Member since:2006-05-14
"Why is server-side code different?"
I'll take a stab at this,though i could be wrong lol
I think the the guy is trying to make the point that from a user standpoint, client side software runs on your system and you should have a choice on what your system runs. He is asking for a standard way to find open client-side javascript (and eventually other stuff...like flash, etc).
Also, from a developer standpoint, Lets say you are a member of a free software project developing something in javascript (lets say you are writing an OS in javascript for some crazy reason). You stumble across a website with awesome javascript logic and would like to incorporate that into your project, with proper credit, how do you know you are free to do so? How do you know down the line you wont be sued for using said code? or worse being accused of using code that you DIDNT use?
Server-side software (JSP,Php, Ruby, etc) is a different beast, you are using normally open standards (HTML, HTTP, CSS) to interact with an application that may or may not be free software, running on someone else's hardware. From a user standpoint, no big deal (its generally easy to find out if said server-side app is freely available), from a developer standpoint no big deal, no worry of someone accusing you of stealing code. Though they can still accuse you of stealing an idea...but those are different problems.
Member since:2007-03-04
Member since:2006-09-27
I can't speak for Stallman but, I think the distinction is important because, unlike client-side software, server-side software is not distributed at all, so it may be regarded as a particular case of private software, which is NOT the same as proprietary software. In fact, private use of the software at discretion (without additional requirements, like the obligation to release what you do with the software) is one of the four freedoms the FSF aims to protect.
Member since:2008-08-19
The distinction isn't always clear though. Take a GWT application, for example - the entire thing is coded in Java, with parts of it 'compiled' to javascript for clients. Some code runs on the client, some on the server, some run on both.
So to say that server-side code is a completely different issue isn't really true...
Member since:
2006-01-01
Turn down the FUD, please. In this article RMS specifically addresses the client-side programs of "web applications" (that are silently downloaded into your computer). He clearly says that the server-side software of "web applications" is a completely different issue: