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An apology to open source

chartjs.org

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Re: An apology to open source

#121

Post by [deleted] »

MrScruff wrote: post #43
ayanb wrote: post #29

An open note to Nick's Employers - 1) If you are a technology company, this is Harakiri ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku ). You are alienating every developer who is worth her salt. If you have a recruiting arm, and they are trying to recruit, god be with them. Ofcourse, you think people will never come to know, but this has the potential to be a good story and press will pick it up. I will not be surprised if…

From the OP 'Sadly though, due to concerns from my employer regarding intellectual property and similarities in projects I've worked on, I've been asked to take down the site.' We have no way of assessing the validity of these concerns from what has been said. If the company feels the open source project contains work they have funded, and don't want to release, then it is their right to ask him to withdraw it. Also,…

[deleted]

Re: An apology to open source

#122

Post by Silhouette »

arethuza wrote: post #101
analog wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, but he's based in the UK, so the 'we own all your IP' thing doesn't apply here. On company time yes, in your own time I believe not. Your own time would not be "in the course of his or her employment." http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy/c-ownership/c-employer.htm

I've seen employment contracts in the UK that try the "own time" thing - these are probably not enforceable, but you probably wouldn't want to go through the process of putting that to the test.

It is widespread practice in the UK for "a certain type of organisation" to include a blanket IP clause in their standard employment contracts. I don't know of any robust legal argument that such a clause should not be enforceable (which isn't to say that none exists, but I've been involved in some fairly heavy negotiations on this score in the past and no lawyer on either side has ever questioned that aspect to my knowledge).

If you choose to work for that type of organisation, it is therefore similarly widespread practice for anyone who's any good to demand that the clause be replaced with something more equitable, probably using magic words like "in the course of your employment" or something similar.

I don't know what default rules apply under all possible circumstances in the absence of any explicit agreement, but if you work in an IP-related field and don't have an explicit agreement about IP rights in your contract, you're crazy. :-)

Re: An apology to open source

#123

Post by [deleted] »

readme wrote: post #108
stdbrouw wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they want it, they pay. If they don't want it, don't pay, but don't get it either. Isn't that how you work as a contractor too? And doesn't that apply regardless of whether the work was agreed on in advance?

The suggestion in the post I was replying to was to involve osha and demand overtime pay for work previously done in spare time. So no. The agreements the OP had with his company are irrelevant to his work hours. If OP did open source work on his free time, then later is asked by his company to take down said work, and complies, he is not entitled to any compensation, other than what his employer voluntarily offers h…

[deleted]

Re: An apology to open source

#125

Post by readme »

readme wrote: post #108
stdbrouw wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they want it, they pay. If they don't want it, don't pay, but don't get it either. Isn't that how you work as a contractor too? And doesn't that apply regardless of whether the work was agreed on in advance?

The suggestion in the post I was replying to was to involve osha and demand overtime pay for work previously done in spare time. So no. The agreements the OP had with his company are irrelevant to his work hours. If OP did open source work on his free time, then later is asked by his company to take down said work, and complies, he is not entitled to any compensation, other than what his employer voluntarily offers h…

I'm not sure why this got downvoted, perhaps you're all missing the point:

It's not that I don't like open source. I contribute to it myself.

The point is that when you agree to something, that is binding.

Re: An apology to open source

#127

Post by slashdotdash »

Some alternative JavaScript charting libraries...

* Highcharts JS (http://www.highcharts.com/)

* Flot (http://www.flotcharts.org/)

* NVD3 (http://nvd3.org/)

* morris.js (http://www.oesmith.co.uk/morris.js/)

* Rickshaw (http://code.shutterstock.com/rickshaw/)

* jqPlot (http://www.jqplot.com/)

* gRaphaël (http://g.raphaeljs.com/)

* YUI charts (http://yuilibrary.com/yui/docs/charts/)

* Polychart.js (http://polychartjs.com/)

Re: An apology to open source

#128

Post by shin_lao »

ayanb wrote: post #29

An open note to Nick's Employers - 1) If you are a technology company, this is Harakiri ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku ). You are alienating every developer who is worth her salt. If you have a recruiting arm, and they are trying to recruit, god be with them. Ofcourse, you think people will never come to know, but this has the potential to be a good story and press will pick it up. I will not be surprised if…

You have only one side of the story. Maybe the company doesn't have the rights on the code and cannot decide to open source it. Maybe they're making money with the code and open sourcing it is killing the business. Maybe they have a procedure before open sourcing code.

If tomorrow I wake up with a developer open sourcing part of the work he does for us I would sure be very unhappy.

You just can't condone that kind of initiative or in a couple of days your whole IP is on the Internet.

Re: An apology to open source

#129

Post by retrogradeorbit »

This happened to me, once. I can't go into details but I know from experience what you should do now.

Start looking for another job, immediately. Don't hesitate. Don't think these guys are 'ok'. As soon as you find another job, resign. There is more and worse coming down the line. You need to get out of there as soon as you can.

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