[FreeNX-kNX] FreeNX and NoMachine NX: what is our relation [was: FreeNX and NXServer]

[Kurt Pfeifle]

  ( My CC-ing and crossposting to the FreeNX-kNX at kde.org + 
    nxdevelopers at nochine.com mailing list is intentional... )
  ---------------------------------------------------------- 

On Monday 14 February 2005 21:55, Peter Edmond wrote to nxusers at nomachine.com:

> I've tried both setups 'in anger', 

???

[...]

> 3.	FreeNX uses the standard open source ssl libraries. NXServer uses 
> NXssh, so I guess that ultimately,

You missed one point here: what is called "nxssh" is not a complete 
SSH installation (forked, patched or modified), but just a client, 
that is solely run in user space by the nx user, with no extra 
privileges. So any security implications that could come up will 
also have the same limited impact.

> the FreeNX is the best approach from  
> a security process, as more people work with and analyse the ssl libraries.

This may or may not be true. But there is more to it: nxssh is there
for a reason (a technical one). There are features in current NX and 
its future development roadmap that require a separate nxssh client
(or an acceptance of the NX features into upstream OpenSSH source).
However, you will still be able to use the standard OpenSSH client 
with NX, if this is your desire, but be aware that you will eventually
be missing some features. For this reason, FreeNX will support the use 
of the standard OpenSSH client in the future too -- but we are aware
of the implications.

[ It is the same with NX overall: you may use remote X, remote VNC
  and remote RDP without nxcomp [=NX compression]  -- even without
  NX altogether! --  and you can still have remote GUI sessions. But
  you will be missing "features" you may surely have learned to love 
  by now.... ;-)   ]

> On the other hand 
> FreeNX is easy to edit/develop etc, and now that the code is freely 
> available, it should improve rapidly.

This introduces a very unfortunate turn of phrase and "tonguing"
into the discussion.

I dont like the mindset that seems to be behind a sentence like that. 
Let me state the following very clearly, as one of the guys who were 
instrumental in founding the FreeNX project at all, and trying to 
make it more popular: 

   ==================================================
    Without NoMachine's GPL-d NX, FreeNX is nothing!
   ==================================================

and repeat after me:

FreeNX is not a competition to NoMachine NX that seeks to displace 
NoMachine and its NX technology by our own fork  -- just as KDE or 
kdelibs are not a competition to Qt that seeks to displace Qt and 
Trolltech! We rather are convinced that this technology is of major
benefit to many people (and ourselves personally) and want to make 
it more popular.

FreeNX is not striving to become better than "!M NX". 

We are currently not at all working on the !M NX core library code at 
all, even though we *could* and though it has generously been donated 
by NoMachine to the GPL/FOSS camp of the world. This is partially for 
lack of time, partially of lack of knowlege and competence. Without 
any doubt, the best fond and repository of knowledge regarding this 
delicate technology is at home at the NoMachine commercial company. 

Should we ever start to make changes and improvements to the core NX 
code, this surely will not be made in the spirit of competition to 
"out-NX" the NX-creators, but in the spirit of cooperation and mutual 
help. 

FreeNX and NoMachine NX developers are cooperating to make this
splendid softare more known, and more used in this world, and to make
it even better. There are other "competitors" were we should join 
forces to become better than them -- competitos who never have giving 
a single line of code to the GPL/FOSS camp (let alone as much as 
NoMachine have).

We are collaborating with NoMachine, not competing.

Cheers,
Kurt Pfeifle  (co-founder of the FreeNX project)