This post was written by the FSF's volunteer High Priority Projects
Committee.
The High Priority Projects review committee received about 150
feedback emails† in response to its call for suggestions for
projects of strategic importance to the goal of freedom for all
computer users.
Following is a preliminary analysis of the High Priority Projects
list, based on the existing list, feedback received, the panel session
held at LibrePlanet 2015, and discussions among the committee.
The call for suggestions summarized what we're aiming for:
Undoubtedly there are thousands of free software projects that are
high priority, each having potential to displace nonfree programs
for many users, substantially increasing the freedom of those users.
But the potential value of a list of High Priority Free Software
Projects maintained by the Free Software Foundation is its ability
to bring attention to a relatively small number of projects of great
strategic importance to the goal of freedom for all computer users.
What makes a project of great strategic importance to the goal of
freedom for all computer users? In this analysis, we'll consider that
it takes one or more of the following characteristics:
- Systematic. Something that has the potential to improve lots of free
software programs, development, communities, advocacy -- making use
of free software and participation in development and advocacy more
compelling for many more people.
- Universal. Something that nearly every computer user needs, but for
which there is no competitive free software in the category.
- Cascading. Something that will enable a large number of users to replace
not only comparable proprietary software, but also break a logjam that
makes it hard for users to adopt unrelated free software.
- Frontier. Enables users to be free at ever lower layers of software
and down to hardware. Few users may be able to do this soon, but such
frontier development ensures that the bar for eventual freedom for all
users is not set too low.
Additionally, we will strive to recommend projects that are
actionable. Such projects document ways for members of the free
software community to get involved and make the project succeed, with
any kind of concrete contributions, from money donation, to code
patches, advocacy, etc.
Given this framework, here are some notes on projects that were on the
list at the time of the call for suggestions, and on potential
additions.
Currently listed projects
Reverse engineering projects. We haven't analyzed these in detail
yet, but more broadly free drivers and free firmware (the goals of
nearly all of the listed projects) have all four of our
characteristics. Reverse engineering is one way to obtain free drivers
and firmware, but the ideal is for manufacturers to publish full
specifications and ship free drivers and free firmware, and this is
what users should demand. We may want to reframe this page around free
drivers, firmware, and hardware designs, noting priority reverse
engineering tasks, but also encouraging users to make requests to
vendors. The page also lists Replicant, a free version of Android.
Phone operating systems were one of the most popular suggestions and
merit their own entry (see potential additions below).
Gnash. Removing Gnash from the list was another very frequently
made suggestion. Flash used to be a nearly universal need, but is no
longer, so we intend to remove it from the list. Additionally it is
worth noting that several people suggested that people still
interested in free Flash should check out Shumway, a player
implemented in JavaScript, in addition to Gnash. Video was one of the
use cases that made Flash nearly universal. HTML5 video has helped
make Flash less relevant, but there is still work to be done, to
ensure that free formats such as VP8/VP9, and in the future,
Daala, are used with HTML5 video.
Coreboot. A free BIOS has at least the universal and frontier
characteristics. Several people suggested adding "and Libreboot," the
project to ship a version of Coreboot with no blobs, pushing further
in the frontier direction. We intend to take this suggestion. We are
also discussing whether to move this listing to the reframed page
about free drivers, firmware, and hardware designs mentioned above.
Free software replacement for Skype. This is a nearly universal need,
with potential for a cascade effect. Two changes were suggested. First,
there are now several proprietary real-time voice and video communications
applications that need to be replaced too, so the name of this priority should
be changed to "free software real-time voice and video chat". The other
suggestion was to point to WebRTC applications using only free software,
as WebRTC is set to upset this category, but it is difficult to tell
which applications are free. We'll take the title suggestion. The second
suggestion might be best addressed with a dedicated category in the Free
Software Directory.
Free software video editing software. Several people wrote to
suggest that we narrow the list of programs suggested, as this is a
field that is difficult to navigate and free software could use a
"champion" to really make an impact. Clearly that champion is Blender,
an amazing application which started in 3D animation, but now is used
for video editing, 2D animation, and much more. We strongly encourage
anyone interested to check out Blender, or one of the other programs
if a simple video editor is one's main need. However, we intend to
remove this listing. It just doesn't solidly meet any of our desired
criteria.
Free Google Earth Replacement. We intend to remove this listing;
it doesn't meet any of our desired criteria.
Help GNU/Linux distributions be committed to freedom. This solidly
meets the frontier criteria.
GNU Octave. With acknowledgment that we received some feedback in
support of this listing, we intend to remove it as it doesn't meet any
of our desired criteria. (The FSF will continue providing fundraising
support for GNU Octave.)
Replacement for OpenDWG libraries. We intend to remove this
listing; it doesn't meet any of our desired criteria.
Reversible Debugging in GDB. rr meets some of the major needs
of reversible debugging in GDB, so we intend to remove this listing.
Free software drivers for network routers. The text of this
listing concerns mesh networking, which may be too narrow to satisfy
our criteria. In general free drivers for network routers probably
meet the universal and frontier criteria, but it may make sense to
fold this listing into a listing/page concerning free drivers and
firmware for a large category of hardware (see reverse engineering
above).
Free software replacement for Oracle Forms. We intend to remove
this listing; it doesn't meet any of our desired criteria.
Automatic transcription. We intend to remove this listing; it
doesn't meet any of our desired criteria.
Free Software replacement for Bittorrent Sync. We intend to remove
this listing; it doesn't meet any of our desired criteria.
Potential additions
Free software implementation of advanced PDF features. A fairly
popular suggestion was to re-add free software PDF tools to the
list, as many businesses use PDF features such as embedded JavaScript,
embedded videos, forms, and annotations not fully supported by free
PDF readers. This is an important project and conceivably could meet
our cascade criterion. We're still debating whether to make the
addition or not, as PDF is in long term decline -- not nearly as steep
as Flash, but still becoming ever less central. It is worth noting
some suggestions to check out PDF.js, a PDF reader implemented in
JavaScript.
Free software phone operating system. This is a nearly universal
need, with some cascade and frontier characteristics as well, and the
single most popular feedback suggestion. Clearly this topic should be
represented as a high priority, the question is how to focus it.
Replicant could be moved from the reverse engineering page. "Help
phone operating systems be committed to freedom" could be noted.
Free software personal assistant. Siri, Google Now, Cortana, and
others are becoming more pervasive on smart phones. The convenience
they offer makes people's lives easier. At the same time, the breadth
of access to users' data they take in order to provide all this is
enormous, and both the client and server software accessing such data
are proprietary. We believe a free software personal assistant is
crucial to preserve users' control over their technology and data
while still giving them the benefits such software clearly has for
many. Sirius could be the right project to focus on.
Decentralization of the Web, service federations, and personal clouds.
Several projects in these macro categories were suggested, collectively
contributing to the 3rd most popular feedback suggestion. Depending on the
project, up to all four of our criteria could be met. This is a large and
fragmented space, so we're thinking about how the list could usefully focus
attention.
Outreachy. This and other initiatives to help "people from groups
underrepresented in free software get involved" solidly meets our
systematic and cascading criteria, so we intend to add it.
Improving accessibility, internationalization, and security. These
very different topics are linked in their potential for systematic
impact, and their ethical import -- does a user really control their
own computing if they cannot use appropriate interfaces, their first
language, or if their computer is spying on them or can be pwned at
any moment? We'd like to add these to the list, together or
separately, but probably need a link for each that provides guidance
on how to get involved effectively.
Free software adoption by government. There have been some
successful efforts in this regard, particularly in Europe. The cascade
effect is potentially very large, given that government is overall the
largest employer, and everyone interacts with government in various
ways -- a popular suggestion was for free tax software. Demanding that
government not be held hostage to proprietary software is also an
activity that every citizen can and should do. We're inclined to add
this to the list, particularly if there is a single link that can
guide people all over the world toward resources for acting.
Let's continue the conversation: you can reach the committee at
hpp-feedback@gnu.org.
†We'd like to especially thank the following people who let us know
they had published their suggestions to the committee: Antoine
Amarilli, Kathryn Bukovi, Dave Crossland, Denver
Gingerich, Federico Leva (1, 2), David Seaward,
and Christopher Allan Webber.
