On Sat, Jul 28, 2012 at 9:58 AM, Richard Stallman
<address@hidden> wrote:
Someone tell me again why it is a bad idea to develop a Chrome/Chromium
(browser or Chrome OS) plugin that is essentially just the basic Emacs bits
that we know and love?
For one thing, I am concerned people might use it in Chrome, which is
nonfree software with a universal back door. If that caught on, it
would be a disaster in terms of our primary goal: giving users
freedom.
People use Emacs every day on Windows, which is nonfree software with a universal back door AND a malevolent management team antithetical to users freedom.
The underlying premise is that there are no "desktop" apps available on
this imagined system, just web apps and browser plugins.
That IS a disaster, in terms of users' freedom. It pushes users
into total dependence on servers. We must oppose it, not accept it.
We've had this conversation before. I neither oppose not accept dependence on servers in general but use my own servers and encourage the development of server based communities where users' freedoms are embraced and preserved.
The mobile computing paradigm, small computing devices that act as clients to data on servers, is a fact of life for the foreseeable future, as is giant companies which span the gamut from Masters of Evil (Microsoft/Apple/Facebook, imho) to not so evil (Google). Unfortunately, "not so evil" is probably as good as it will ever get.
-pmr