Comments for Swfblag

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Mirek2

Mirek2 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:43:42 +0000

@Kevin Kofler
You’re right — it’d be nice if Google released the source code behind their web apps, but at least they don’t lock you in. When a good open-source alternative (like WordPress or Diaspora, once it reaches stability) emerges, nothing will keep people from switching. We just need those open-source alternatives. (Google does back LibreOffice, which is working on a web app right now.)

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Mirek2

Mirek2 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:29:16 +0000

You could have similar rants about most companies that back open source — no company is perfect. Look at Canonical — the Ubuntu Software Center includes proprietary apps, Ubuntu One’s server software is proprietary, it has a tendency to fork upstream efforts, …

Fact is, Google has done a lot for open-source. They’re the reason why the most popular mobile OS is open-source. Without them, there would be no open-source alternative to H.264 for HTML5 video. They organize GSoC, back a number of open-source projects, and advocate against censorship and software patents. They don’t do everything right, but they’re far from scumbags.

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Alex Kuster

Alex Kuster — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:58:52 +0000

Nothing to see here, move along … =/

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Alex Kuster

Alex Kuster — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:58:05 +0000

Bullshit, you’re making an “argument” out of 2 things against a world of things like SoC, code-in, releasing of tons of projects and patches that can be counted in millions of lines ….

Yeah, sure …

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Aleve Sicofante

Aleve Sicofante — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:37:30 +0000

What’s really killing free software is the huge amount of nuts writing nonsense like this.

Google is not “killing” anything by abusing its use of “open source” as a marketing gimmick. Maybe you think you’re the clever guy in a planet full of idiots, but most people actually can tell the difference between marketing and the real thing. Quite the contrary, Google is probably the major corporation of its size and importance pouring money into open source projects, far far ahead of Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle or anyone else worldwide. It does it in itw own interest: free labor and good publicity (like so many others, by the way).

So you don’t like NaCl? That’s fine. Talk about its merits and failures, but stop the whining “it doesn’t let me see the source”. Almost no website with a backend allows you to view the source running at their servers. Are you going to accuse each and every webmaster of “killing free software”? Get real!

You don’t like Google opening up the source of a project they didn’t feel was ready to be opened? Boo-hoo. They actually did us a favor and you weren’t forced to use the binary blob BEFORE they published the source. They made it once in a number of releases and for good reasons. Again: get real!

Sure, corporations are evil and Google is no exception, but the title and arguments in your post, and not corporations, are the kind of thing that really scare people away from free software: plain stupidity.

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Free Software Is Just Fine « Bangarang – a media player

Free Software Is Just Fine « Bangarang – a media player — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:41:58 +0000

[...] — jamboarder @ 11:40 am So I see there is yet one more person babbling on about how Google is killing free software . This is tiresome. I fully support vigilance in our FOSS efforts. However, it strikes me as odd [...]

[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The comment’s server IP (72.233.44.23) doesn’t match the comment’s URL host IP (72.233.2.58) and so is spam.

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Bill

Bill — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:23:38 +0000

Flamebait – nothing more here!

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Tracius01

Tracius01 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:10:36 +0000

Native Client is a wonderful technology, and will not harm open source, you are just stupid!

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Willem

Willem — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:08:22 +0000

I’m sorry Benjamin I think you really don’t know what you’re talking about. Being able to view javascript and html does not equate to being free software. Just throw a big copyright disclaimer in and you are not allowed to do anything with it. It is more like ms’ shared source initiative a couple of years ago, you can look, but not touch, let alone reuse. This renders #15 point moot as well.

I do agree with Kevin #18, it’s the free as in beer services they deliver that are dangerous for the free as in speech software efforts. At least they use some open standards so you are able to avoid lock-in.

Comment on Google is killing Free Software by Dave

Dave — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:10:30 +0000

I am a senior recruiter at google let me give you a call