Difference between revisions of "Free Software Directory talk:Requirements"

From Free Software Directory
Jump to: navigation, search
(Added to https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Participate)
 
(One intermediate revision by one other user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
== Proposal: "Crippleware" and society's essential freedoms ==
+
* Purely Promotional Packages - Some free software packages are really just created as an advertisement for a proprietary version. Unlike those tagged as 'bait and surrender', the free software package is so deficient that it is of little value to the user. Such purely promotional packages shouldn't be included in the directory, but if you're not sure whether it can be included as 'bait and surrender' or should be left out, you can start a discussion on the talk page of the package, or on the directory mailing list, or in the weekly meeting.
 
 
During Kuhn's talk on LibrePlanet 2016, in the beginning of [http://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/copyleft-for-the-next-decade-a-comprehensive-plan/ the talk], I could '''briefly''' listen to him talking about a case of dual licensing, where the "community"/"open source" edition of a software is under a free software license, and the "premium"/"commercial" edition '''may''' be under a non-free software license. So, I was thinking on this case, and here I'm suggesting for us to require a project, to be approved here, to meet '''at least one''' of these situations:
 
 
 
* The "premium"/"commercial" edition is also proven to be free software.
 
* The "community"/"open source" edition is proven to be '''as better as''' the counterpart, '''or even better'''.
 
 
 
If this proposal is accepted, we need to solve the associated problems in the following entries (either by simply disapproving them, or by contacting them, or both):
 
* [[Nginx]]: [https://www.nginx.com/products/feature-matrix/ Comparison between Nginx and Nginx Plus]. '''Note:''' The websites are different, but the Nginx project's actually links to the Nginx Plus edition whenever there is a new release of the Plus edition.
 
* [[NOLA]]: This proof requires non-free JavaScript in order to be seen. Go to the project's page, to "Download" and to any "Compare" button.
 
* [[Odoo]]/OpenERP: [https://www.odoo.com/pricing Comparison of the various editions].
 
* [[OrangeHRM]]: [https://www.orangehrm.com/OrangeHRM_Compare_HRIS_HRMS Comparison of OrangeHRM editions].
 
* [[VtigerCRM]]: Needs more investigation and clarification. [https://www.vtiger.com/download/ This page] evidences the availability of an "open source" edition. There is also [https://www.vtiger.com/complete-pricing-table/ this other page] that, despite not evidencing the "open source" edition, shows differences between some of the currently available editions.
 
--[[User:Adfeno|Adfeno]] ([[User talk:Adfeno|talk]]) 16:32, 15 May 2016 (EDT)
 
 
 
:I think this is an important criteria to consider because when these "premium"/"commercial" editions are better than the "open source"/"community" editions, or when they aren't free/libre, they still allow the proprietors to exercise unjust/unfair power over society.
 
:
 
:We must also investigate [[ProcessMaker]], because [http://www.processmaker.com/processmaker-bpm this page]'s HTML source evidences the existence of different editions.
 
:
 
:There might be other entries to be investigated.
 
:
 
:Besides, if you don't mind, I would like to apologize for making the [[Odoo]] entry. I created it because someone from Brazil '''blindly told me''' that it was free/libre software, and so I had to create the entry to see if that was true, then I saw Odoo being approved, and since the approval, I have recommended it at least two times (always referencing to the approved entry).
 
:--[[User:Adfeno|Adfeno]] ([[User talk:Adfeno|talk]]) 10:27, 16 May 2016 (EDT)
 
 
 
:Just for the record, for those wanting to change the requirements according to what is taken as consideration with this proposal: I spoke with contributors of the directory and some organizers of the meetings ([[User:Jgay|Jgay]] participated on the debate), and we consider that these crippleware '''are''' somehow useful free/libre software (specially because a free software activist can make a parent project out of it), and so we came up with two alternatives that can be used '''instead''' of removing the entries. At least one of the following is recommended:
 
:
 
:* Insert a message telling the viewer that the entry is about the '''free/libre''' edition of the software, and not about the non-free one, and that the free software movement doesn't recommend the non-free one. I, '''personally''', suggest that this message is displayed with emphasis (like red boxes, with warning symbol and so on), but it's OK to have a simple text message (similar but longer than what the entry about [[Krita]] has).
 
:* Instead of linking to the projects official page, resources, documentation, source code and so on: Link to a page from a free system distribution that provides such software. This avoids attracting people to the non-free functional data.
 
:--[[User:Adfeno|Adfeno]] ([[User talk:Adfeno|talk]]) 09:23, 18 June 2016 (EDT)
 

Latest revision as of 14:36, 2 December 2016

  • Purely Promotional Packages - Some free software packages are really just created as an advertisement for a proprietary version. Unlike those tagged as 'bait and surrender', the free software package is so deficient that it is of little value to the user. Such purely promotional packages shouldn't be included in the directory, but if you're not sure whether it can be included as 'bait and surrender' or should be left out, you can start a discussion on the talk page of the package, or on the directory mailing list, or in the weekly meeting.


Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the page “GNU Free Documentation License”.

The copyright and license notices on this page only apply to the text on this page. Any software or copyright-licenses or other similar notices described in this text has its own copyright notice and license, which can usually be found in the distribution or license text itself.