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An apology to open source

chartjs.org

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Re: An apology to open source

#211

Post by analog »

shin_lao wrote: post #128
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…

If Nick's University has a claim on the code, then the company probably don't have the right to use the library themselves.

If the University decided to assert their IP rights they could either demand a licence fee or the removal of the library from any of the company's products.

Re: An apology to open source

#212

Post by drone »

creature wrote: post #64
kawsper wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I have been working for Rails shop that did exactly this. I wasn't able to do anything, not even in my spare time, to contribute to open-source projects or do other work. The other work I can understand, because I could help a competitor for an example. But that they owned ownership for every line of code written by me, even on my time off, was killing my inspiration.

I've encountered this clause in a few employment contracts. It seems to be becoming standard language, but you don't have to agree to it. A contract's a starting point for negotiation, not something set in stone. If you don't want your side projects owned by the company, then ask for the clause to be removed/amended. One place said they couldn't amend the contract, but wrote that they had no interest in code I wrote…

This has been pretty typical of my experience, I get a contract that says, basically, they own all things I create during the course of my employment. I offer changes to the subsection, that indicate they own only those things which I create specifically related to the problem spaces+ the company works in, with specific exclusions around any existing creations I have. Usually, in the contracts I've been offered, there has been a specific schedule to fill out for pre-existing invention disclosures.

Not once has any company refused such a change.

+ Worded appropriately, of course.

Re: An apology to open source

#213

Post by wyck »

slashdotdash wrote: post #127

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 ( htt…

The better link for d3 is : http://d3js.org/

And TONS of examples: http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock

Re: An apology to open source

#214

Post by marcosdumay »

dmacedo wrote: post #155

Let me see if I get it: Someone exposes code, FOS'ing it (apparently MIT), here comes "the internets", it likes what it sees, exposes to both forks and HN positive comments, along comes employee's manager and cuts the story short, IP issues and whatnot (for JS, really?!)... The internets will either rename it; rewrite it, use it anyways and ignore the anonymous business, maybe keep the Nick name either associated/tha…

Let me see...

Ca-ching sound vs. boring rationality... How can rationality work if nobody can know how those weard hackers think? Ca-ching for the world! (Yeah, in case you are wondering, I know what is wrong with that, you don't need to point out.)

Anyway, the most likely explanation is that Legal is following their procedures, and as usual for procedures, there can be no exception (or rationality).

Re: An apology to open source

#215

Post by drone »

nevinera wrote: post #19
phpnode wrote: post #12

That's a shame. This serves as a reminder to us all to be very careful when signing employment contracts. We're fortunate enough to be in an industry with huge demand for talent at the moment, so in addition to salary / benefits, things like having the right to open source your work should be included in your negotiations. In my experience, most good companies are OK with it.

>This serves as a reminder to us all to be very careful when signing employment contracts. If he was a full-time employee in the US, a contract wouldn't be necessary for this to be an issue. All work done by an employee on company time or using company resources is 'work for hire' (a term often misused in the software contracting industry, where it rarely applies), and that IP belongs to the company. >In my experienc…

> All work done by an employee on company time or using company resources is 'work for hire' (a term often misused in the software contracting industry, where it rarely applies), and that IP belongs to the company.

Even if the company is friendly today, it's worth noting that one should -never- use company-owned resources or time (including laptops) for personal projects. You can get into a situation where the a claim could be made that since company resources were utilized, that real financial value was contributed by the company towards its creation, and some ownership could be claimed.

Whether or not such a claim would eventually prevail in court is orthogonal to one's ability to fund the experience in discovery.

Re: An apology to open source

#217

Post by paperwork »

Somewhat related, I released the first version of http://datafa.me . It is a web app where you can paste data and generate a chart. Not exactly a charting library, but it will certainly evolve to provide some of the same functionality.

I actually submitted a 'Show HN' at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5401057 but it seems to have not picked up.

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