[Fsfe-ie] Patent letter #3

[Ian Clarke]

Ciaran O'Riordan wrote:
> Ian Clarke writes:
>>Ciaran O'Riordan wrote:
>>Well, its a website, not software, so it doesn't need a license (does
>>Google have a license?).
>
> IFSO hasn't asked anyone to use google, or any other secret software, on
> their own machines, or over a network.

Sure you are, unless the BIOS of your web server is free software.

I think you may be painting yourself into a rather uncomfortable 
philosophical corner.  There is a big difference between using software 
on your own machine and using it "over a network".

AFAIK there is nothing in the Free Software philosophy that demands that 
people disclose the source code to their software UNLESS they are 
distributing the compiled binaries.

In the case of 3D17.org, the binary stays on my server - the only part 
of it that runs on the user's computer is the HTML it generates and the 
user is free to look at its source code.

As such, I don't believe that not publishing source code of software 
that only runs on my computer contradicts the philosophy of the free 
software movement.

Ian.