Richard Stallman Warns About Non-Free Web Apps

An anonymous reader writes "Richard Stallman has published an article which warns about the 'Javascript trap' posed by non-free AJAX-based applications. The article calls for a mechanism which would enable browsers to identify freely-licensed Javascript applications and run modified version thereof. 'It is possible to release a Javascript program as free software,' Stallman writes. 'But even if the program's source is available, there is no easy way to run your modified version instead of the original ... The effect is comparable to tivoization, although not quite so hard to overcome.'"

Comments

Re:he is right.

[radarsat1]

I think it's pretty clear, if you just keep the fundamental principles of free software in mind. If you use software, you should have the freedom to modify it and run a modified version. Just remember that, and this article will make a lot more sense to you.

I think he enunciates quite clearly the "danger": that we are becoming more and more dependent on software that is temporarily downloaded to our computers in a semi-obfuscated manner and executed to perform non-trivial tasks. This is not quite breaking the "freedom to modify" principle, since technically the source code is available, but he's calling it a trap because in practice it's extremely difficult to get in there and modify a web application since current browsers don't provide an easy way to do it, and the "source code" is almost impossible to read.

Look -- people are calling him crazy for this but I don't know why. (Possibly because they'll jump on any opportunity to call him crazy.) But frankly he's right. If you value the ability to modify software that you use, web applications don't make it easy to do. Not only that, but they can change on you while you're in the middle of using them, making it difficult for any local modifications (based on GreaseMonkey e.g), to "stick".

I don't think he comes off as crazy at all in this article, nor is he even suggesting we don't use JavaScript or anything silly like that. He's merely pointing out some potential problems with web applications vis-a-vis the freedom to modify, and providing a possible solution in the form of metadata.

In fact I'd say this is one of the more practical and shorter things I've seen him write, so I can't understand why people are jumping all over this.

Re:I thought I did.

[betterunixthanunix]

"F/OSS only appeals to people who LIKE to trudge through others code to see how it works or make it "better". To me, software is an end to a means and I don't really give a rat's ass how it works as long as it's not doing shit behind may back that I don't want; which I can find out by other means than looking at source code."

Free-libre software is about more than just looking through source code. The availability of source code is a means to an end; there are non-free licenses that provide access to source code, and even the right to modify that source code. Free-libre licensing grants you freedoms that you really do not have with proprietary systems, including those that make code available to you:

• The freedom to install the software on as many systems, and for as many users, as you wish. For a web apps, some vendors limit how many simultaneous users (or how many users in total) may use the system; a free-libre system cannot impose such a limit.
• The freedom to use the software perpetually.
• The freedom to use the software for whatever purpose you see fit (compare this with the AAC codec license, which forbids "client software" for being used for "professional" purposes).
• The freedom to use modifications to the software that other people have developed.
• The freedom to give the software to someone else.
• The freedom to discuss the software with someone else (there are proprietary systems that forbid or limit this as "trade secrets").

Maybe these are not things that really matter to you. I have encountered restrictions on every one of the above items from different software packages, and it has caused me and the other users/administrators of the software serious headaches. In cases where free-libre software was introduced, people just got their work done -- no worries about breaking the law, no worries about the software suddenly becoming inoperable, no restrictions on who we may discuss the software with.

Re:I thought I did.

[cozziewozzie]

I share the same philosophy about computers. I don't want to waste hours of my life on coding software. I'd rather just work 1 hour of overtime, and then go out and buy the program I need.

You don't get the whole point of Free Software in the first place.

But the beauty of it is that even you can profit from its fruits. Every time you surf on the internet, or listen to music or watch a movie. Most of those are running on or were created with Free Software.

Re:What about the server side?

[Jamie's Nightmare]

I wonder if RMS visits any websites at all besides fsf.org

I'm glad you asked. Let's get a direct quote from the man himself:

"For personal reasons, I do not browse the web from my computer."

At the risk of obvious ridicule he doesn't give the reasons behind this choice, but that's not really important here. Stallman is truly out of touch with the real needs of people who actually use computers on a daily basis. He is out of touch by his own choice. What really burns my taters is that so few properly chastise Stallman for this foolishness. Even worse, some actually defend it.

Re:How does Stallman use the web?

[shutdown -p now]

How does Stallman use the web?

Here's how.