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The GPL doesn't require “contributing back”. You can't just give out binaries without source, but you can choose not to release anything. The thing is, as usag

The GPL doesn't require “contributing back”. You can't just give out binaries without source, but you can choose not to release anything. The thing is, as usage models shift to include a lot of what the FSF very reasonably relabels SaaSS (Service as a Software Substitute), you can release nothing but provide the functionality over the network and reasonably expect people to use it that way. Since you haven't distributed the software itself to anyone, the GPL doesn't put you out of compliance for not showing them your code or letting them distribute it further. This is the situation the Affero GPL (AGPL) was intended to address—it requires (or tries to require) that source code also be accessible to anyone who is given access to the software over a network. (Imprecisely speaking, that is; do check the license text if you want the specifics.)

Dylan16807 5y ago
> very reasonably relabels SaaSS (Service as a Software Substitute) Heck no. "as a" already means that. Rewriting the acronym is far more petty than reasonable.
- dasyatidprime 5y ago
  They both contain both elements, but the point is to sharply alter the emphasis. “Software as a Service” is a reasonable description in the salience model of the mainstream software industry, because it is something that you choose and integrate and use like software, except it just so happens to be a service, coming with various costs like subscription fees and very direct vulnerability to upstream changes, and various benefits like installation and maintenance functions being centralized far away where you don't have to directly manage them. “Service as a Software Substitute” pushes the ‘service’ part to be the most salient. It depicts something which is fundamentally a service, where ‘substitute’ once more emphasizes that you do not, in fact, have the software itself, even though it is taking the role of software. The FSF considers this very important, because they wish users to be able to copy and modify the software they use, and pseudo-distribution purely as a service does not naturally allow for this. If that is not something you care about, then the emphasis will seem strange, yes.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    I do care about it. That doesn't make it less petty, the same way M$ is petty.

Dylan16807 5y ago

> very reasonably relabels SaaSS (Service as a Software Substitute) Heck no. "as a" already means that. Rewriting the acronym is far more petty than reasonable.

dasyatidprime 5y ago
They both contain both elements, but the point is to sharply alter the emphasis. “Software as a Service” is a reasonable description in the salience model of the mainstream software industry, because it is something that you choose and integrate and use like software, except it just so happens to be a service, coming with various costs like subscription fees and very direct vulnerability to upstream changes, and various benefits like installation and maintenance functions being centralized far away where you don't have to directly manage them. “Service as a Software Substitute” pushes the ‘service’ part to be the most salient. It depicts something which is fundamentally a service, where ‘substitute’ once more emphasizes that you do not, in fact, have the software itself, even though it is taking the role of software. The FSF considers this very important, because they wish users to be able to copy and modify the software they use, and pseudo-distribution purely as a service does not naturally allow for this. If that is not something you care about, then the emphasis will seem strange, yes.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  I do care about it. That doesn't make it less petty, the same way M$ is petty.