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

[bill-auger]

On Wed, 23 Mar 2022 18:34:12 -0400 Ian wrote:
> To avoid confusion, avoid describing a service as "free" or
> "non-free"
> https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html
> 
> A change about SaaSS should just be about SaaSS. Keep in mind what is
> written here:
> https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html

IMHO, this was the most salient post in the thread - it is most
important to be definitive WRT terminology - people are
especially confused/argumentative about "SaaSS"

this loose-end came up a while back regarding the term
"non-free", which is used ubiquitously; yet i dont believe that
it is actually defined anywhere - the definition could be
simply: "software which does not offer all four freedoms"; but
albeit a trivial definition, there should be a well-defined
definition for it somewhere, for other documentation to
reference, rather than presenting it casually, as a
commonly-understood jargon term

so the general suggestion i would make, is to be careful with
wording, yes; but not in any one place (such as the FSDG); but to
centralize/canonicalize the definitions of those common terms

in other words, if the FSDG were to be amended to cover SaaSS,
the FSDG should avoid any attempt to define SaaSS - it should
instead point to a common definition such as the
'who-does-that-server-really-serve' article; with terse,
unambiguous wording like: "Avoid SaaSS, as defined by GNU <at
this URL>."