Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Using Google Calendar

[Simon Ward]

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 12:05:41PM +0000, Lucy wrote:
> It was suggested that we use Google Calendar for this.

I would rather we don't.  It just encourages more and more to use
software as a service / the cloud / whatever to get around making
software freely available.  People who use a service should still have
the right to run that software themselves.  As an example, Wordpress
provide a blog service, but the software is also freely available so you
are not restricted to using just that service: You can use another blog
service based on Wordpress software or setup your own.

Although Google do contribute to free software, they haven't made the
software for their services freely available, so people are essentially
locked in to them, one thing free software tries to prevent.  You _can_
export iCalendar format from Google Calendar which is reusable in other
applications but, as others have pointed out, other software lacks the
features of Google's apps.  Why should we be denied those?  Shouldn't
they be free so others can build on them?

Furthermore, our aims are primarily about free software, not free data.
Free data is an admirable aim too, but we must stay focused.  We might
value free data as much as we do free software, but in the context of
this group it shouldn't be put ahead of it.  I've said the reverse to
people about OpenStreetMap: OSM is about free data (more precisely, free
geodata) and free software is not a primary aim.  Free software and free
data do fit together rather well, though.

Simon
-- 
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that works.—John Gall

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