Not only JavaScript... [LWN.net]

Not only JavaScript...

Posted Mar 23, 2009 7:38 UTC (Mon) by eduperez (guest, #11232)
Parent article: Stallman: the JavaScript trap

What about photos? Most web pages I visit have non-free photos on them, photos that my browser downloads and displays without any kind of warning. I can see them on my computer; but I cannot edit them, or post them somewhere else.

Well, now that I think of it, even web pages' content are non-free...

to post comments

Not only JavaScript...

Posted Mar 23, 2009 9:43 UTC (Mon) by johill (subscriber, #25196) [Link] (5 responses)

But it's not executed by your computer, only, in a way, by your brain!

Oops.

Not only JavaScript...

Posted Mar 23, 2009 10:34 UTC (Mon) by ikm (guest, #493) [Link] (4 responses)

No, it is in a way executed by your computer, by being instructed where to put what on the screen and how to react on clicks over the page via anchors. It doesn't have to be Turing-complete to be said it gets executed. It doesn't have to get variables and branching, either. In fact, this whole point of JavaScript-vs-everything-else differentiation is just moot. It's all the web content you happen to be viewing. It's a service, not a program.

Not only JavaScript...

Posted Mar 23, 2009 13:48 UTC (Mon) by k8to (guest, #15413) [Link] (3 responses)

Someimtes it's a service and a program. The error in my mind is believing that freeing the javascript will free the program. The javascript is usually only a portion of the user interface.

Not only JavaScript...

Posted Mar 23, 2009 18:57 UTC (Mon) by ikm (guest, #493) [Link] (1 responses)

Today's trend is to move increasingly more parts of work to the user side, but it still is a program running on the other side, even if some bits of it do happen to run on the client.

Not only JavaScript...

Posted Mar 24, 2009 4:23 UTC (Tue) by k8to (guest, #15413) [Link]

I thinkt he amount of computation on the client side is in flux. Pivotal developers have talked about reducing the amount of logic in logic, and generally viewing putting any essential logic on the client side as unwanted.

Obviously some applications are moving in the other direction. But even for them, it seems much more about interacting with datastreams produced by the server.

Not only [client-side software]...

Posted Mar 26, 2009 23:53 UTC (Thu) by pjm (guest, #2080) [Link]

Allowing changes to client-side code is valuable even if one can't change the software that runs on the server.

Whether the server-side software is free depends on the definition of free: remember that unlicensed software in ROM counts as free for some people's purposes (I believe including RMS'), just because they seek negative rather than positive liberty.