Big Blue Button Free Software?

[Matthias Kirschner]

I just read
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/open-source-minimizes-web-meeting-costs-italian-environment-agency
on the train and wounder if anyone of you knows if Big Blue Button is
Free Software?

Regards,
Matthias

[Robert Kehl]

Post by Matthias Kirschner
I just read
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/open-source-minimizes-web-meeting-costs-italian-environment-agency
on the train and wounder if anyone of you knows if Big Blue Button is
Free Software?

It's licensed under the LGPL:
http://www.bigbluebutton.org/open-source-license/

The contained red5phone is livenser under the GPL.

They heavily rely on Flash, served through the OpenSource Red5 server. I
guess the use of Flash deems them to be non-free, though Red5 is
licensed under the GPL... Hm.

With kind regards,

Robert Kehl

[Immanuel Giulea]

BBB is considered open source. Not sure if it qualifies for "Free Software"
under FSF definition.

Cheers

Post by Matthias Kirschner
I just read
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/**community/osor/news/open-**
source-minimizes-web-meeting-**costs-italian-environment-**agency<https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/osor/news/open-source-minimizes-web-meeting-costs-italian-environment-agency>
on the train and wounder if anyone of you knows if Big Blue Button is
Free Software?

http://www.bigbluebutton.org/**open-source-license/<http://www.bigbluebutton.org/open-source-license/>
The contained red5phone is livenser under the GPL.
They heavily rely on Flash, served through the OpenSource Red5 server. I
guess the use of Flash deems them to be non-free, though Red5 is licensed
under the GPL... Hm.
With kind regards,
Robert Kehl
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[Robert Kehl]

Post by Immanuel Giulea
BBB is considered open source. Not sure if it qualifies for "Free
Software" under FSF definition.

The components of BBB seem to all be open source, yes, but they use
Adobe's Flash technology as the only component to access content offered
by the product. So the users are forced to use Adobe's Flash viewer,
which is closed source.

Correct me if there is a free or even an open source version of a flash
viewer - I don't think there is. Hopefully there will never be, as HTML5
is the uprising star in active web contents in my eyes.

So, how can a server software be free if we need to use non-free client
software to be able to use it?

Cheers,

Rob

[Anton Nikishaev]

Post by Robert Kehl

Post by Immanuel Giulea
BBB is considered open source. Not sure if it qualifies for "Free
Software" under FSF definition.

The components of BBB seem to all be open source, yes, but they use
Adobe's Flash technology as the only component to access content offered
by the product. So the users are forced to use Adobe's Flash viewer,
which is closed source.
Correct me if there is a free or even an open source version of a flash
viewer - I don't think there is. Hopefully there will never be, as HTML5
is the uprising star in active web contents in my eyes.

There is (was?) https://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/
But you are right, flash is almost dead.
--
lelf

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[Robert Kehl]

Post by Anton Nikishaev

Post by Robert Kehl
Correct me if there is a free or even an open source version of a flash
viewer - I don't think there is. Hopefully there will never be, as HTML5
is the uprising star in active web contents in my eyes.

There is (was?) https://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/
But you are right, flash is almost dead.

If I see it correctly, gnash "only" supports Flash (SWF) 9, the most
recent (and last) Linux version is 11. I would not want to guess what
the porn sites of this world would look like with 9, if they would ever
run.

Not that I'm into porn sites (who is?), but they are the main reasn that
Flash is still there and actively sought after by the users. Just like
the Video Home System (VHS) has made its way back in the 80's - there
were superior technologies available (Video 2000, Beta), but when the
porn industry set on VHS, all other died. So: "Sex sells." Really!

Now, back to work :)

Cheers,

Rob

[Anton Nikishaev]

Post by Robert Kehl

Post by Immanuel Giulea
BBB is considered open source. Not sure if it qualifies for "Free
Software" under FSF definition.

The components of BBB seem to all be open source, yes, but they use
Adobe's Flash technology as the only component to access content offered
by the product. So the users are forced to use Adobe's Flash viewer,
which is closed source.
Correct me if there is a free or even an open source version of a flash
viewer - I don't think there is. Hopefully there will never be, as HTML5
is the uprising star in active web contents in my eyes.

There is (was?) https://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/
But you are right, flash is almost dead.
--
lelf

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[Carsten Agger]

Post by Robert Kehl

Post by Immanuel Giulea
BBB is considered open source. Not sure if it qualifies for "Free
Software" under FSF definition.

The components of BBB seem to all be open source, yes, but they use
Adobe's Flash technology as the only component to access content offered
by the product. So the users are forced to use Adobe's Flash viewer,
which is closed source.
Correct me if there is a free or even an open source version of a flash
viewer - I don't think there is. Hopefully there will never be, as HTML5
is the uprising star in active web contents in my eyes.
So, how can a server software be free if we need to use non-free client
software to be able to use it?

There's gnash, but it doesn't work too well.

But if BBB is under the GPL, it's free software. Its dependency on Adobe
Flash is, if explicit, a design flaw, but that doesn't make BBB any less
free in itself. Anyone who wanted could switch it to a another format
provided it's feasible, technically.

[Matthias Kirschner]

Thank you all for your feedback. I now remembered that I saw the
software at a conference.

Post by Carsten Agger
But if BBB is under the GPL, it's free software. Its dependency on
Adobe Flash is, if explicit, a design flaw, but that doesn't make
BBB any less free in itself. Anyone who wanted could switch it to a
another format provided it's feasible, technically.

For me those questions are important:

- Can you run it on the server, without the need to install non-free
software?
- Can you use it to do a video conference on your machine without the
need to install non-free software?

Regards,
Matthias

[Robert Kehl]

Post by Matthias Kirschner
- Can you run it on the server, without the need to install non-free
software?
- Can you use it to do a video conference on your machine without the
need to install non-free software?

Same for me. With Flash being mandantory to access BBBs contents, it's a
no-go.

Does anyone know another conference software that delivers as much and
runs as smooth as BBB and is completely free software, also when it
comes to the client needed to access the content?

With kind regards,

Robert Kehl

[Michael Kesper]

Hi,

Post by Robert Kehl
Does anyone know another conference software that delivers as much and
runs as smooth as BBB and is completely free software, also when it
comes to the client needed to access the content?

I'm hoping for something built on WebRTC. That's still quite new, though.

Best wishes
Michael