SmartScope Server Side Application

[Paul Greindl]

Then one may ask the question: how does it come that major features in 
Ubuntu rely on closed source software that is developed and run behind 
closed doors in the first place?!

I'm absolutely not satisfied with this answer and represent the opinion 
that there shouldn't be any need for closed source software to make 
Ubuntu function as intended! If the smart scopes rely on closed software 
it would only be consequent to open up that software as well.

What's Canonicals plan for this mess? You have just gone silent about 
this flaw. There are many things a community can obviously tolerate 
(Ubuntu One is closed source, despite the wish to open it up, Amazon 
Shopping lens is opt-out instead of opt-in, the list goes on...), but I 
think with closed source software at the heart of Ubuntu Canonical has 
gone too far! Wasn't Ubuntu a project for collaborating for the benefit 
of all? May I quote Jono Bacon: "/...but our greatest strength in Ubuntu 
is our community and together we can do this.../" What happened to that? 
We don't even have access to the source code anymore, not quite what I 
would call collaboration!

And to make one, maybe obvious thing clear: I do want just the best for 
Ubuntu! That said I hope to hear back from you or someone else who might 
be able to explain this and maybe, if Ubuntu is still Ubuntu and still 
about collaborating and being a real alternative to the rest out there, 
find a solution.

Thank You!

Paul


On 2013-11-06 19:04, Lucio Torre wrote:
> The most important technical reason we have right now to keep it 
> closed source is that most of this code will not work without other 
> parts of our server code base, which is also closed source. So making 
> it free of those parts is a substantial effort.
>
> I consider that reason enough for the decision, but there might also 
> be other reasons i am not aware of.
>
> Lucio.
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 5:44 AM, Martin Pitt <martin.pitt at ubuntu.com 
> <mailto:martin.pitt at ubuntu.com>> wrote:
>
>     Lucio Torre [2013-10-30 12:34 -0700]:
>     > The server code that handles all requests from users is not open
>     source. We
>     > try to do many things with the data we collect to improve the
>     service, and
>     > that changes every day.
>
>     The question surely isn't about opening the collected data to the
>     public, just the server code itself.
>
>     > Everything we do is within the terms of service and privacy policy
>     > of the project.
>
>     This would be easier to verify if one could see the server-side code.
>     Is there a specific reason why it's closed?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Martin
>
>     --
>     Martin Pitt                        | http://www.piware.de
>     Ubuntu Developer (www.ubuntu.com <http://www.ubuntu.com>)  |
>     Debian Developer  (www.debian.org <http://www.debian.org>)
>
>

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