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Author: marc
Date:  
To: dng
Subject: Re: [DNG] Which is Free, Which is Open Source, is there any difference?
Regarding a new category and the proposed term:

> Obfuscationware.
>
> New name for a new type of software that wasn't thought of a couple
> decades ago: Otherwise free software with the intent and effect to
> lessen our freedom to use our (other) software.
>
> I repeat: SystemD doesn't fit into current categories in the Free
> Software spectrum.


I wouldn't just place it in a new category - I would
add a new dimension. So there isn't just a closed-source to free
axis, but also how (and here I am not sure of the words yet)
community integrated or random coder accessible it is.

Now it is much easier to see the world just along a single line.
Heck, many politicians try to trick people into that: Its either left
or right but nothing else (why not also up-down, forward-backward ?).
But the real world has many dimensions (maybe 11 in space time alone)...

So code on the user-hostile end of this new axis has one
or more of the following of symptoms:

1  * It rejects user-contributed patches outright (EWONTFIX)
2  * It bakes in policies - doesn't allow users to set their own
3  * It adds gratuitous changes, moves unnecessarily fast and deprecates
     working, useful code
4  * The investment needed to get up to speed makes it hard for people
     not working full-time on it to contribute
5x * The design objectives and configuration defaults suggest that it is 
     not written with the best interest of its users and contributers in 
     mind


(There are other obstacles like certifications, membership fees,
NDAs, citizenship, etc which might be deployed in future, but aren't
common in the software that I care about yet).

I think I can not only place systemd on that end, but also
GNOME and many of the web-related protocols and implementations.
Firefox has been particularly disappointing.

So what words do we use for this axis ? Hackability, forkeability ?
Contributer-hostile ? Actually there might be some words for points
1-5x needed too. I favour "churny" for point 3...

regards

marc