Re: [GNU-linux-libre] GNU FSDG and SaaSS

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ 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. ]]]

  > I think targeting the program itself in the criteria might not be
  > the best way.  Whether something is SaaSS or not is
  > context-dependent -- who is hosting it, who is using it, and for
  > what purpose.

There are some programs for which that is substantially true.  But
that point, if we are not careful, would open the door to quibbling
about minor cases.

Suppose a program is normally used for SaaSS, and is presented as a
way to do SaaSS, and some hacker figures out a way to run it that
isn't SaaSS.  Does that new way change the conclusion about whether
that program is a portal for SaaSS?  Maybe it does, maybe not.

If the new non-SaaSSy way is really useful, and we change the
program's documentation to present that as the primary way to use it,
and a substantial fraction of users start using it that way, then I
think it does.

But if it remains no more than an amusing hack, it should not change
our conclusion that that program exists for SaaSS.

  > here is also the situation of tools that are actually useful in
  > migrating data out of a SaaSS platform, even though they might
  > also be useful for actually using the platform.

That is a good point.  We could ask whether the program has
"practically important non-SaaSS or anti-SaaSS uses".

If it does, people should prepare documentation which presents those
uses as the program's purpose.

  >  A start at figuring this out might involve editing the criteria
  > about recommendations under License Rules, to make sure endorsed
  > distros don't recommend SaaSS platforms.

Maybe so -- but that issue seems rather different (though they both
relate to SaaSS).  One issue is about which programs to include,
and the other is about which web sites to mention.

-- 
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)