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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html index 8f5200c..2c3da11 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html @@ -17,19 +17,36 @@ you might interact with.</strong></p> (proprietary). More precisely, this distinction applies to a program that you have a copy of: either you <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html"> have the four freedoms for -your copy</a> or you don't.</p> +your copy</a> or you don't. If you don't, that program does a +specific kind of injustice to you, simply because it is nonfree.</p> -<p>An activity (such as a service) doesn't exist in the form of -copies, so it's not possible for a user to have a copy of it, let alone -make more copies. As a result, the four freedoms that define free -software don't make sense for services.</p> +<p>The copyright holders of a nonfree program can cure that injustice +in a simple, clear way: release the same source code under a free +software license. Convincing them to <em>do</em> this +may be difficult, but the action itself is straightforward.</p> -<p>To use a culinary analogy, my cooking can't be a copy of your -cooking, not even if I learned to cook by watching you. I might have -and use a copy of the <em>recipe</em> you use to do your cooking, -because a recipe, like a program, is a work and exists in copies, but -the recipe is not the same as the cooking. (And neither of those is -the same as the food produced by the cooking.)</p> +<p>An activity (such as a service) doesn't exist in the form of +copies, so it's not possible for a user to have a copy of it, let +alone make more copies. Lacking a copy to modify, the user can't +modify it either. As a result, the four freedoms that define free +software don't make sense for services. It is meaningless to say that +the service is “nonfree,” or that it is +“free.” That distinction makes no sense, for services.</p> + +<p>That does not mean that the service treats users justly. Quite the +contrary—many services do wrong to their users, in various +ways, and we call them “dis-services”—but there is no +simple universal fix for this, comparable to that for a nonfree +program (to release it as free software so users can run and control +their copies and their versions).</p> + +<p>To use a culinary analogy, my way of cooking can't be a copy of +your way of cooking, not even if I learned to cook by watching you. I +might have and use a copy of the <em>recipe</em> you use to do your +cooking, because a recipe, like a program, is a work and exists in +copies, but your recipe is not the same as your way of cooking. (And +neither of those is the same as the food produced by your +cooking.)</p> <p>With today's technology, services are often implemented by running programs on computers, but that is not the only way to implement them. @@ -192,7 +209,7 @@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2020/01/07 16:54:09 $ +$Date: 2020/12/18 06:13:30 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> |