The Free JavaScript campaign

http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/freejs

by sankha93 • 13 years ago

13 17 13 years ago

gluxon• 13 years ago

Why can't some people understand that authors want claim over their creations? Is this really a bad thing? Not everyone writes code for the "good of mankind", and we shouldn't be forcing people to. The quality of software will just go down then.

Besides, JavaScript code is open source. The reason I push for open source is so that others can get a learning experience by looking at ideas in existing code. This campaign is being really picky. Especially since it goes into detail about "where" the code is ran. I'm sure a campaign about "freeing" servers because they generate HTML would sound a lot more ridiculous.

streptomycin3• 13 years ago

You don't seem to know what "open source" means. Also, you don't seem to know that the FSF's goal is not "open source" (by either your definition or the real one). Also, the FSF doesn't "force" anyone to do anything.

russellsprouts• 13 years ago

Honestly, this seems like a parody to me, but they are serious. Sure, some sites are open-source. But I wouldn't expect every site to be open source.

streptomycin3• 13 years ago

They don't "expect" every site to be. They are hoping to make marginal change towards more free software. This is entirely in line with their other work.

leokun• 13 years ago

I saw a login page. How about making your free manifesto also registration-free.

Edit: strange, no I can see the article. Maybe a bug with the URL before or some kind of site hiccup.

shill• 13 years ago

Same here.

amorphid• 13 years ago

The source code for the page contains JavaScript.

krapp2• 13 years ago

    /*
    The only JavaScript code we have right now is the piwik
    statistics ...

I guess proprietary javascript spyware is only evil when other sites do it.

graue• 13 years ago

Piwik isn't proprietary; it's under the GPLv3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piwik

bsimpson• 13 years ago

JavaScript is one of the freeist languages in common usage. On any page on the Internet, I can hit Alt+Shift+I and literally modify the source code of the page in real time. Yeah, sometimes the names are minified (which is presumably what this campaign is about), but it's a stretch of credibility for the FSF to put a proprietary OS and a minified web site in the same category.

More to the point, the sites that are big enough for this to even be an issue (such as the cited Google Docs) have a business interest in keeping that code proprietary. If you drew a Venn diagram of sites complex enough that minification prevents tinkering and sites with any likelihood of GPLing that code, you'd have two independent circles.

winter_blue• 13 years ago

Fair point. So we have a situation similar to any other kind of software.

I just want to point out though, that optimized & minified code isn't really that different from say -- a blob of JVM code. JVM can be de-compiled, and sort-of be brought into a human readable form. This is a tab bit harder with x86 - but we're forgetting obfuscators here. Anyone who really don't want you to peek into their code will use an obfuscator.

Ultimately though -- I think the defining aspect of whether X code is open or closed, is the a measure of the ease with which I can take that code and modify it (perhaps make some enhancements to it). This is either difficult or sometimes practically impossible with x86, obfuscated JVM, obfuscated and/or minified JS, etc.

streptomycin3• 13 years ago

The FSF's goal isn't to allow you to view and tinker with code. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

You seem to be arguing that because X is worse than Y, we shouldn't worry about Y. Or that because Y is hard to change, we should ignore its problems. The FSF will never agree with that, though.

whitehat2k9• 13 years ago

The FSF has gone full derp.

trevordixon• 13 years ago

I think they're talking more about the license under which the code is released and less about whether or not it's minified or obfuscated.

wturner• 13 years ago

I want to see alternatives that allow people to be able to get paid from their creations. I don't care if its free or closed or even government enforced or constrained insofar that it allows for greater freedom in the long run. I'm waiting for the day that Jaron Lanier and Richard Stallman have a public discussion/debate.

jlgaddis• 13 years ago

I joined the EFF a decade or so ago. I fully support almost everything they do with the money I give to them and am happy to be able to contribute to their efforts.

I joined the FSF right about the same time. When it comes time to renew my membership, sadly what comes to mind is not the good things that the FSF works towards.

It is stuff like this that makes me seriously question whether I should continue to give money to the FSF money or if perhaps there is someone else who might make better use of it.

The Free JavaScript campaign

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