From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: free services (was: Re: Translation of manuals (was: SES manual French translation)) Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2024 22:51:36 -0500 Message-ID: References: <835y0azhvo.fsf@gnu.org> <83wmsqy14p.fsf@gnu.org> <3E7CF23D-CE62-4581-80D6-E6266CEE4DF5@traductaire-libre.org> <83edexy5cy.fsf@gnu.org> <1E3685C0-7B33-45BB-BF3C-AD1215BAB33B@traductaire-libre.org> <87o7dv9pax.fsf@dataswamp.org> <87ply9wzvi.fsf_-_@dataswamp.org> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Utf-8 Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="7743"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Emanuel Berg Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Sat Jan 13 04:52:03 2024 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1rOV3z-0001qH-0A for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane-mx.org; Sat, 13 Jan 2024 04:52:03 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1rOV3i-0001Fq-5b; Fri, 12 Jan 2024 22:51:46 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1rOV3g-0001Fa-5V for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 12 Jan 2024 22:51:44 -0500 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1rOV3e-0005TR-V2; Fri, 12 Jan 2024 22:51:42 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gnu.org; s=fencepost-gnu-org; h=Date:References:Subject:In-Reply-To:To:From: mime-version; bh=uTm6WQhIL/cI4LRAAvsfNk+75t6+Lp4Rpr8ZqLVX2AQ=; b=YEHL2FCkNeaf 0sEfSwMi5ubc7zV5cA83ab5MdLBcyeoC2JT2V+1VGs1mzD6jLQHk18BZVztOFzUWHXMIqKzvXzuc0 +2xcej0PiG//lUVJCV+GC365vgG2qESDrMXzLA8mUtZ8MJEuW8REj6L0zpvlvRz3l+/R4rjWyPsKg ++nDaDgV5kLoH4vUOQvfVeVzLHMay84ePn8xu7IIKV9rudJ4NPlIykXosqPCjZtOs8vqlRHru8VQ7 +/7qnKZyl6TJCqTmj2JL9a/+HnBzpLJPxzb0170PAJqkjpCVLEeYDXueqHn66Ox9681v8SmFWwWq9 kEG8ZQo0MDpB6iUrXDnv/g==; Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1rOV3Y-00037z-K3; Fri, 12 Jan 2024 22:51:37 -0500 In-Reply-To: <87ply9wzvi.fsf_-_@dataswamp.org> (message from Emanuel Berg on Wed, 10 Jan 2024 05:56:01 +0100) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.devel:314918 Archived-At: [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]] [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]] [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]] > 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)