GUADEC: Luis Villa points GNOME at the web [LWN.net]

GUADEC: Luis Villa points GNOME at the web

Posted Jul 29, 2010 4:16 UTC (Thu) by thedevil (guest, #32913)
Parent article: GUADEC: Luis Villa points GNOME at the web

I don't get this.

Libre / Open Source was about users' freedom to fix or tweak the code they run to their satisfaction, or pay someone to do that for them. If the code runs on a server in a data center somewhere, how does the source code help? You can have the perfect patch but if a distant organization (profit or not) is responsible and not interested, the fix isn't going in. You can fork but you'll need your own server and your own rack in the data center.

Perhaps the idea is that today, or soon, anyone can get a hosting solution to run these great Web Apps of the Future. I think that is way too optimistic.

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GUADEC: Luis Villa points GNOME at the web

Posted Jul 29, 2010 8:09 UTC (Thu) by mjthayer (guest, #39183) [Link]

> Libre / Open Source was about users' freedom to fix or tweak the code they run to their satisfaction, or pay someone to do that for them. If the code runs on a server in a data center somewhere, how does the source code help?

See also my comment further down. Today, at least I get most of my software from the repositories of a private company - Canonical Ltd. Nonetheless, the source code is available and I have fed at least one patch back, via upstream, to Canonical's repositories. (Not to mention the software I work on in my paid time, which is also sitting there.) As long as you can also run the software locally for testing purposes (and to be honest, testing a patched version of a system component that lies a bit deeper down the stack is a bit of a pain even with an Ubuntu desktop) you can improve it and contribute back your improvements. Then you just have to choose a provider that plays the game.

GUADEC: Luis Villa points GNOME at the web

Posted Jul 29, 2010 19:11 UTC (Thu) by alfille (subscriber, #1631) [Link]

I think you are missing the point as well. Gnome and the web browser are about the user interface, not the "backend" code.

Say you want to write an application. Almost anything, say: computer algebra, screen writing, board game or sprinkler controller. You could write the interface in gtk or qt, or you could write it to the browser. Your backend runs it's own web server process, and you are instantly cross-platform, distributed and web appliance capable. Pretty compelling.

What is lost with the browser interface is the communication between subtle changes in your program state and the rest of the desktop, and communication between the browser windows. That's where gnome should concentrate.