JavaScript issue in Free(dom) software world

[luckydeveloper]

I just read an article written recently by richard stallman.. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html

can anyone make sense of what he is trying to say...

[Polygon]

he is claiming that javascript, flash, silverlighht and java being loaded when you visit a web page, and those scripts/languages not having source code available, even if you are a GNU extremist and you have no closed source or restricted software on your machine, those languages that get loaded when you visit the webpage are closed source

but he does not explain WHY we would need the source in the first place. What would we do with it? He brings up the example of the google docs javascript code is 'compacted', as in there is no white space, no comments, and the method names are obscure.

but suppose that that code was open source. What exactly would we do with it? The code does one thing, help your computer interact with google's servers to do whatever its meant to do. So even if we had the source code, its not like we have the source to google docs/spreadsheets/gmail...no just have the code that runs on our machine, and is most likely useless in figuring out how any of those cool web programs work

its like launchpad. people complained about launchpad being closed source. Well, if it was open source (which it is now i think, at least most of it) then what would we do with it? you could create your 'own' launchpad, but that defeats the purpose of having launchpad in the first place (namely having one source for bug reporting, where you can reference other projects and bugs in your bug report).

Sure, you can get in a tissy by having non-free javascript code when you visit a browser, but honestly, why should you care if having the javascript source does nothing interesting anyway?

[lykwydchykyn]

Well, just from a quick read through it looks like he's saying that, since javascript programs in the browser are becoming more complex and application-like, people who care about software freedom might want to pay attention to the licensing of javascript applications, and browsers ought to have provisions to modify javascript and run our own modified javascript on websites.

Not that I necesarrily agree, but that seems to be what he's saying.

How much background have you read on stallman and his philosophies?

[jespdj]

Since your name is luckydeveloper, I guess you know what JavaScript is? It's the scripting language in webbrowsers, which is used on most modern websites.

Stallman is being paranoid that when you surf the web, your browser is running JavaScript code that is not free software. If you're a 100% pure free software zealot and you only want free software on your computer then you don't want that. The same thing is true for Java applets (Java itself is open source nowadays, but someone's applet might not be) and Flash programs.

[luckydeveloper]

I liked GNU for some of these days.. but after i read his article.. i kind .. of thought why is this guy "richard stallman" interfering with this javascript thing.. if some company have to make money..they must close atleast some part of their technology to compete in the market.. and make money..

If you go over his article... i think he is trying to say " give all the code you used to make this webapp" to the free(dom) world.. what kind of crazy idea is that..

please correct me if i am wrong.

[t0p]

I liked GNU for some of these days.. but after i read his article.. i kind .. of thought why is this guy "richard stallman" interfering with this javascript thing.. if some company have to make money..they must close atleast some part of their technology to compete in the market.. and make money..

If you go over his article... i think he is trying to say " give all the code you used to make this webapp" to the free(dom) world.. what kind of crazy idea is that..

please correct me if i am wrong.

You're not necessarily wrong on that point. Some folk agree with Stallman, some disagree a bit, some disagree a lot...

But your comment:


if some company have to make money..they must close atleast some part of their technology to compete in the market.. and make money..

is either naive or stupid.

[jespdj]

Maybe you should read more about what free software (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software) means. Companies do not necessarily need to keep their source code secret to make money. There are companies like Red Hat which are very successful and making lots of money with open source software.

Have a look at the website of the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/) and GNU's definition of free software (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html).