

ESR agrees with RMS about "Software As Service" - billswift
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=932

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ShabbyDoo
So, are people who rent vs. own their homes non-free because they are opting
into the home-as-a-service trap? Of course, they are at risk. The landlord
could kick you out, forget to pay the water bill, etc. But, you accept those
risks because you perhaps want the flexibility of renting, the extra time
saved by not having a lawn to mow, or the financial benefits of living without
a mortgage.

Why stop at owning a server? If you rent rackspace in a datacenter, they own
you too. What if they lock the door and won't let you in? They could even
steal your server along with all your data. What are you going to do then?
Perhaps you should build your own. Then, you're still in trouble. What if the
monopolies that control the pipe into your datacenter decide that you don't
deserve connectivity anymore? Then, you're really screwed. You should just go
live in a cave or something. Life is just too risky.

Seriously, business/life/whatever has inherent risk. Often when faced with a
binary choice, both options have non-trivial risks associated. You either
accept the risks or mitigate them. Most importantly, you measure them. Is
Amazon willing to risk what must be its fastest growing business segment by
holding someone's data hostage? Doubtful. Are you, as a small start-up,
capable of messing up servers you physically manage. You bet! So, pick your
poison.

~~~
bravura
_The landlord could kick you out, forget to pay the water bill, etc._

Actually, most areas have tenants rights provisions that prevent a landlord
from doing these things. Hence, your rights as a renter are protected.

No such laws exist for software.

~~~
ShabbyDoo
Contracts allow for civil penalties including "specific performance" as
ordered by a court -- this might mean "give the customer his data back." One
would hope anyone hosting something of significance would have a contract in
place with his hosting provider.

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cortesi
Who the hell still listens to ESR? After the CML2 fiasco, his series of
incredibly stupid border-line racist blog posts, and the general realisation
that Raymond hadn't, after all, done anything much except for relentlessly
promote himself, I thought we'd dispensed with him as a spokesman for Open
Source?

~~~
davidmathers
That reminds me: <http://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/show-them-the-code>

Actually, every time I see the letters ESR I think of that comic strip. It's
so perfect.

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stonemetal
Wow, isn't that like Robin agreeing with Batman about the Joker?

Not that I disagree with their basic logic. I think you need to take steps to
keep your data yours, though going so far as to completely cut yourself off
from web services seems a bit too black and white.

~~~
tjr
Hmm, now I am imagining RMS wearing a Batman costume. Thanks, I guess.

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russell
I disagree. With the caveat that you should not let your data escape, there
are very good services out there: 37signals, salesforce, web analytics, where
it isnt worth trying to host it yourself. My friends, this is where we are
going to make our money. Thank RMS for GPL, gcc, and other fine tools, but
let's ignore his rants.

~~~
mroman
Referring to his conclusion in relation to this issue as a rant is unfair, and
mistaken.

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phugoid
Then why don't we have/create a free version of "Software As A Service"?

How could that be applied to the various cloud computing services that RMS has
an issue with? Like Google Docs, Gmail, cloud computing power (like Amazon,
Google).

In my limited view, I think software is not the problem - it's the hardware.
There's a lot of upfront cost to setting up a server farm and employing people
to run it, and there's a lot of competition out there.

