Stallman: the JavaScript trap [LWN.net]

Stallman: the JavaScript trap

Posted Mar 23, 2009 12:43 UTC (Mon) by zotz (guest, #26117)
In reply to: Stallman: the JavaScript trap by ledow
Parent article: Stallman: the JavaScript trap

"You're asking site owners to re-license their content. That's a BIG problem."

First of all, I have a big feeling you are attacking a straw man. I have seen him say (in articles) that code needs to be Free, but he does not feel the same way for "art" and there are some who think he does not go far enough. And I don't think that is the only straw man you attacked in your post.

Second, to address the quote above. There is nothing wrong with asking for something you want. It is up to the party you ask to decide if they will give what you ask. If enough people start asking for the same thing and spending time on the sites where they get what they ask for, things may go that way.

I ask people to re-license their work from time to time if they want me to contribute to it. So far, it has never caused a problem with attitudes.

all the best,

drew

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What's the difference?

Posted Mar 23, 2009 20:00 UTC (Mon) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] (1 responses)

I have seen him say (in articles) that code needs to be Free, but he does not feel the same way for "art" and there are some who think he does not go far enough.

Yes, but he does distinguish "code on server" and "code on client". And this is Just Wrong(tm). JavaScript code on web page is not some separate program. It's part of server program. Heck: with things like GWT you can move code between server and client with few mouse clicks in IDE! Yet somehow sites like LWN (where server code is closed and client code is simple markup) are OK, while complex sites like Google Docs are not? Where is the logic?

The article glosses over the issue (The client and server sides raise different ethical issues, even if they are so closely integrated that they arguably form parts of a single program. This article addresses only the issue of the client-side software. We are addressing the server issue separately.) and this makes it impossible to discuss seriously.

What's the difference?

Posted Mar 24, 2009 0:13 UTC (Tue) by deleteme (guest, #49633) [Link]

Because LWN isn't an application but gdocs is? But there are several occasions when you want the source even though it isn't an application. Map stylesheets e.g. you get the map rendered as a png but the stylessheet is locked on the server.