Re: [directory-discuss] New antifeature: Nonfree software support

[David Hedlund]

On 2017-01-12 18:28, Greg Rundlett (freephile) wrote:

On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 10:42 AM, David Hedlund <address@hidden> wrote:

On 2017-01-12 12:58, David Hedlund wrote:

I just added https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Antifeatures#Nonfree_software_support

The software support nonfree software but free software can be used as well. For example, Django supports both PostgreSQL and the proprietary Oracle Database.

What do you think?

Based on what principle(s) is this a good idea?

If I understand this correctly, you propose to catalog all the free software that interoperates with non-free software, tagging that as an anti-feature.

You'd have to tag every significant piece of Free Software in the directory, starting with SAMBA https://www.samba.org/

I can see value in a dataset that describes the interoperability of free software, but ascribing "X works with Y" as an anti-feature is opposite of the definition of "feature".

As for creating such a dataset in a useful way, it has to be tooled and standardized.  The task would otherwise be monumental.  For further reference, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interoperability#Achieving_software_interoperability 

I removed "Nonfree software support" from https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Antifeatures to https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory_talk:Antifeatures