31–40 of 40 posts
It's funny how I don't hear anyone saying, wow how cool, they listened and tried their best to respect 37signals. All this was was a few engineers trying to make something cool really quick just to show what you can do with AppEngine. Google, probably thought it was cool too and decided to showcase it. This was really blown out of proportion. If anyone wants to perpetuate conspiracy theories you've got plenty of ammo…
I don't understand the particulars of this case, but in general: There are 2 sets of hackers: those whose intellectual property has been stolen and those whose intellectual property will be stolen. The former group thinks it's a big deal. The latter group doesn't (yet).
I would suggest there's a third set, who sits around on Slashdot and argues that "intellectual property" is a misnomer and therefore cannot be "stolen".
If this came from Microsoft then everyone would bitch but no one would think twice about it. Google tries to be at a class above everyone else down to their company motto of "Do no Evil". Whether it was a few guys working off the clock or using their 20% time at work it was still Google that released it. Don't get me wrong, I do think Google has a right to release competing products and they have done so with Gmail a…
I think that's nonsense, and think the exact opposite - if someone else other than Google had come out with this no-one would have given a damn and it would have received little to no press. It's only because Google is a big company - in itself this isn't news at all. A browser-based chat client is a hardly spectacularly original idea, and 37signal's Campfire itself owes much to IRC, a protocol invented some 20 years…
When Microsoft created .net both pro and anti-Microsoft supported complained rather largely to answer your question. This was during the aspx days that eventually was scrapped in order to support common languages across their platforms.
You seemed to have missed my point though, this isn't Google or Microsoft creating a competitive product and going to market with it. It's Google asking developers and startups to trust them with both your code and data but they'll do the right thing with it. I wouldn't have trusted Microsoft back in the 90's before they were depicted as the borg on Slashdot and I don't trust Google now based on their decision to copy an application from the same market they are trying to encourage to use Google App Engine. This isn't Microsoft vs. Google or Adobe but it was in bad taste and they obvious agreed since they took down the app.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that's nonsense, and think the exact opposite - if someone else other than Google had come out with this no-one would have given a damn and it would have received little to no press. It's only because Google is a big company - in itself this isn't news at all. A browser-based chat client is a hardly spectacularly original idea, and 37signal's Campfire itself owes much to IRC, a protocol invented some 20 years…
I never stated it was an original idea but copying features plus innovating which was the course Google took with Gmail and their product releases was innovation. However, when you clone someones app feature-for-feature down to the nearly the exact design then that is a rip-off. When Microsoft created .net both pro and anti-Microsoft supported complained rather largely to answer your question. This was during the asp…
Google developed a basic web chat, the likes of which have existed online for years before 37Signals was even a glint in DHHs eye. And almost all have shared a very similar look and feel because it makes sense.
It's funny how I don't hear anyone saying, wow how cool, they listened and tried their best to respect 37signals. All this was was a few engineers trying to make something cool really quick just to show what you can do with AppEngine. Google, probably thought it was cool too and decided to showcase it. This was really blown out of proportion. If anyone wants to perpetuate conspiracy theories you've got plenty of ammo…
In any event Google has proved the point - it is ridiculously simple to clone webapps like campfire.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never stated it was an original idea but copying features plus innovating which was the course Google took with Gmail and their product releases was innovation. However, when you clone someones app feature-for-feature down to the nearly the exact design then that is a rip-off. When Microsoft created .net both pro and anti-Microsoft supported complained rather largely to answer your question. This was during the asp…
You seem to be missing the point though that campfire is very far from original. To say google ripped them off is to imply the developed the basic chat interface themselves which is wrong. Google developed a basic web chat, the likes of which have existed online for years before 37Signals was even a glint in DHHs eye. And almost all have shared a very similar look and feel because it makes sense.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You seem to be missing the point though that campfire is very far from original. To say google ripped them off is to imply the developed the basic chat interface themselves which is wrong. Google developed a basic web chat, the likes of which have existed online for years before 37Signals was even a glint in DHHs eye. And almost all have shared a very similar look and feel because it makes sense.
I never said 37 Signal's idea was original or defended them on that point. I also stated that before. When you take the functionality and design from one specific site without adding innovation then that is a rip off. I think too many people are caught up on whether or not they like Ruby on Rails or 37 Signals vs. seeing what Google did and calling foul. Good for Google to own up and pull the site though.
That out of the way, you are still saying that Google took the functionality and design from Campfire. Where as what I am saying is that Google took the functionality and design from almost every web chat program that came before it and there was a large number before Campfire itself existed.
To say they took it from campfire is to ignore all the existing implementations that existed before it. It is to rewrite history with the starting point for web chat on the launch date of Campfire.
I doubt Google pulled it because they thought they ripped off Campfire, my money would be on them pulling it because it wasn't important enough to risk bad PR over.
FFS, way to stifle competition, 37sig. I liked the look of HuddleChat way, way more than Campfire, and had started using it. So someone starts a brush-fire in teh blogosphere and we're all supposed to just give up and go away? I thought we'd gotten beyond all this "look and feel" BS years ago.
I don't understand the particulars of this case, but in general: There are 2 sets of hackers: those whose intellectual property has been stolen and those whose intellectual property will be stolen. The former group thinks it's a big deal. The latter group doesn't (yet).
I would suggest there's a third set, who sits around on Slashdot and argues that "intellectual property" is a misnomer and therefore cannot be "stolen".