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How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

jarinheit.posterous.com

11–20 of 89 posts

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#11
A better title might have been "Some thoughts on the Diaspora software license and contributor agreement."

It's alpha software. It's not perfect. They're not going to get everything right on the first go, be it software bugs or maybe-too-restrictive licensing. Let's give it more than 24 hours before declaring it 'dead.'

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#12
post #3
post #2

1. It is absurd to expect to be able to make money from the work they are doing. That said, they may need to make accommodations to allow commercial plugins / complementary services. 2. The "you give your contribution to us" clause is standard in any open source project. How, for example, will they be able to update the project license if they don't own the copyright?

1. They're allowed to make $200,000 off of the community but other developers aren't? 2. That's not the problem. The problem is making developers sign a contract just to contribute to the project.

1. They're allowed to make $200,000 off of the community but other developers aren't?

Where is your great, timely, mind-share grabbing, relevant-to-the-times project? I would like to contribute money towards it.

Otherwise, stop sounding like such a h8r !

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#13
post #6

Heh. The reasons given also explain why the GNU project has failed to release any influential software like GCC, the various GNU shell utilities, GNU Emacs, GDB and other such insignificant projects.

No denying the influence of GNU, but have you noticed that commercially tolerant licenses are becoming more popular and businesses are some of the biggest producers of new major open source projects?

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#14
post #9

Maybe if the author started with the premise that Diaspora is more about offering an open source, secure and decentralized alternative to Facebook rather than zomg facebook killer h8 gpl mindset they might understand the situation better? Diaspora is about choice, not market share.

Yeah maybe I got confused at the part where they said "We think we can replace today's centralized social web with a more secure and convenient decentralized network."

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/196017994/diaspora-the-p...

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#15
post #6

Heh. The reasons given also explain why the GNU project has failed to release any influential software like GCC, the various GNU shell utilities, GNU Emacs, GDB and other such insignificant projects.

None of the projects listed above are AGPL-licensed. AGPL is egregious in its viral nature.

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#16
post #3
post #2

1. It is absurd to expect to be able to make money from the work they are doing. That said, they may need to make accommodations to allow commercial plugins / complementary services. 2. The "you give your contribution to us" clause is standard in any open source project. How, for example, will they be able to update the project license if they don't own the copyright?

1. They're allowed to make $200,000 off of the community but other developers aren't? 2. That's not the problem. The problem is making developers sign a contract just to contribute to the project.

Diaspora is delivering on their promises to their contributors. There is no problem.

Fundraise for your own project and you can run it in any way you see fit.

Write the code yourself and you can license it in any way you see fit.

The Affero licensing prevents some commercial venture from using their code as a foundation, creating a hosted service, tacking on some proprietary candy that locks users in, and out-marketing them. I'm fine with them safeguarding against that.

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#17
post #3
post #2

1. It is absurd to expect to be able to make money from the work they are doing. That said, they may need to make accommodations to allow commercial plugins / complementary services. 2. The "you give your contribution to us" clause is standard in any open source project. How, for example, will they be able to update the project license if they don't own the copyright?

1. They're allowed to make $200,000 off of the community but other developers aren't? 2. That's not the problem. The problem is making developers sign a contract just to contribute to the project.

2. Open Source projects require that you sign your copyright away and assign it to them or offer them a license on compatible terms with their license. Signing a contract to assign your rights or offer your contribution under AGPL is standard fare. How many open source projects did you contribute to where you DIDN'T have to assign your rights?

1. They didn't "make" $200,000, they got $200,000 in donations, and yes, people should be allowed to accept donations. If you don't like the terms, don't donate. I'm sure the Diaspora guys would love it if someone put up another kickstarter page accepting donations towards contributing to the Diaspora code base.

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#19
Use an extremely restrictive and viral license that will force companies and "serious" developers to release the source code of derivative works.

Wasn't that kinda the entire point of diaspora, to be open, this is really just the guys ensuring that it stays that way. Sure it sucks that you need to sign a contract but in order to maintain that it remains open, it needs to be restricted.

Yes i know how that sounds.

Re: How Diaspora killed itself before it even launched

#20
post #9

Maybe if the author started with the premise that Diaspora is more about offering an open source, secure and decentralized alternative to Facebook rather than zomg facebook killer h8 gpl mindset they might understand the situation better? Diaspora is about choice, not market share.

Unfortunately social networking is about market share.
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