[okfn-discuss] Taking the Open Service Definition to 1.0

Fri Jul 11 11:28:48 UTC 2008

Benj. Mako Hill wrote:
> <quote who="Patrick Anderson" date="Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 12:51:59PM -0600">
>   
>> Sorry to chime in so late, but I have a question/concern about using
>> the word 'Network'.
>>     

Me too. :-) ...

>> What about a situation where the user is utilizing the code or data
>> stored on a machine that they do not own, but where they are sitting
>> at that same terminal?
>>
>> For instance, I've thought of a "Free as in Freedom" cafe where
>> customers could rent time on computers to use Free Software or rent a
>> mini-theatre room where they could watch movies that are under a
>> license permitting such performances.
>>     
>
> There's a slippery slope argument here that I think you want to avoid.
> If you ask to use my computer for 5 minutes, it seems potentially
> onerous -- and unreasonable -- that we treat this the same as
> distribution or online use.
>
> The impact on user freedom is about the role, degree, and amount of a
> user's experience that is framed by a particular technology. Most of
> technologies I can think of that I might be very worried about are
> either distributed and possessed or used over a computer network.
>
> I can think of some others (like Internet cafes that you allude to) but
> I can't see how distributing source code and data for the people most
> affected by these systems would help either user or developer freedom.
> Maybe I just need to near a more threshed out example.
>   

If the move to "software-as-a-service" has followed from the "network", 
which supports distributing software functionality as a remote service, 
then the shorter name "software service" probably always implies 
"network", even where the network has "gone away". :-)

But maybe the chief distinction within the name "software service" isn't 
whether there is a network or not, perhaps that is assumed nowadays, but 
rather that the service isn't a /professional/ service? At any rate, the 
name "network service" appears not to carry the same distinction.

One example of where a software service might not be considered "on the 
network" is where a new software service is being tested before being 
put into production. We may wish to test for conformity with various 
things before "putting it on the network" which in turn may never 
happen. A spurious example perhaps. :-)

Yet overall, I do feel the name "software service" is much more common 
than "network service", and as such a much better thing to conjoin with 
"open" and "definition".

J.

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