Historically, Free software has been skeptical of the web and as a
result many of us  (including GNOME) have been slow to embrace it. In
the meantime, not only has the web become the most popular programming
platform in existence, it has also in many meaningful ways become the
*free-est* programming platform in existence. With the advent of
HTML5, it is also powerful and flexible enough for the vast majority
of apps. It is also embracing and extending many of the features
Freedom used to tout, like reliability, cost, and perceived
self-control- eliminating many of the things that made Freedom good in
the eyes of many users. I will argue that GNOME must face this
challenge by deeply embracing the web, focusing optimistically on the
things that make the web free and dealing pragmatically with the
non-free bits.