Re: free services (was: Re: Translation of manuals (was: SES manual French translation))

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

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  > The service itself is not software, it is the result of the
  > work of software that runs on a server.

Yes, that's how computerized online services generally work.

  > If all that software, including the interface(s), are free,
  > I don't see why not the whole thing is free as well.

Because calling that server "free" would be misleading.  To avoid
misleading conclusions, we don't call servers "free" or "nonfree".  See
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html.

We call a program "free" if users have control what the program does
for them -- so if you install a copy on your computer, you have
control over what your copy will do.  If you don't like what it does,
you can change it.

If John's server runs that very same free program, John can change his
copy.  You can change your copy, too, if you have one.  But you cannot
change the copy in John's server. You have no control over what that
server does.

If "all the programs" that implement the service are free, you could
install the same programs on your own server.  But you may not be anle
to get the local changes made on that server.  Also, it may have
configurations, scripts, and surely some data.

But even if it is possible to set up a similar service, it will be a
lot of work and take a lot of time.

The conclusion is that no server is ever "free" in the sense that free
programs are free.



-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)