Re: Google modules integration

[Richard Stallman]

Our definition of "free" and "proprietary" is applicable to copies of
programs.  It does not apply to protocols or to services.  They raise
different issues.

    the protocol is proprietary (even if built above
    standards like json, XML, TCP, ...)

We sometimes call a protocol proprietary if we are blocked from
supporting it in free software.  Protocols cause problems when they
are secret, but this one evidently isn't secret.  Patented protocols
also cause trouble, but when the public needs to use them, we try to
implement them in free software nonetheless.

It looks like there is no obstacle to implementing this protocol in free
software, since we're talking about an implementation of it.

                                        and the server software with which
    you communicate is also proprietary (tho it probably also uses a lot of
    Free Software internally).

Whether a service runs on nonfree software is not a question that
directly affects the people that use the service.  We don't know -- we
can't tell as users -- whether there is any proprietary software on
the server.  If there is, we are sorry for Google's misfortune and
encourage them to replace it soon, but that is no reason to refuse to
deal with them in the mean time.