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Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

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Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#231

Post by rqtwteye »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #59
freedomben wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably doesn't matter for you if you'll never be leaving Apple's ecosystem, but for anyone else, I think that's something to keep in mind before moving to a non-portable solution like Apple keychain.

> non-portable solution like Apple keychain Yes, non-portable across different OEMs. But Apple Passwords app lets you export your passwords in a nice little simple csv file. It was a suspicion-filled (because it's Apple) pleasant surprise to find that out.

In the old Apple passwords thing, they used to have that export feature but they took it away at some point. Learned this the hard way when I switched to Linux for a while.

Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#233

Post by klabb3 »

alerighi wrote: post #219
blendergeek wrote: post #19

Thank you to Bitwarden for relicensing a thing to Free/Open License! Unfortunately, I no longer recommend Bitwarden for normal people because the built-in password manager in Firefox is too good. But for anyone with more advance needs (or who doesn't trust a password manager built into a web browser, I always recommend Bitwarden because KeepassXC + syncing is way too difficult for normal people.

I think that the Firefox password manager is good, however, relying on the browser is a terrible form of vendor lock-in. You need to use another browser (for any reason), you also need to switch password manager. Also, Firefox on Android is not great, and Bitwarden has a better integration. Finally, Bitwarden (the payed version) manager also passkeys and OTP codes, the Firefox password manager not.

I use both, and I agree, even if I’m very happy with Firefox. There are lots of apps outside of browsers that need passwords. It’s very common these days. Besides, does it support passkeys? That’s getting increasingly common as well.

Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#235

Post by alt227 »

Capricorn2481 wrote: post #63
crossroadsguy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarity to past experiences of start of the declines of service/apps.

What app got worse after going open source that you're thinking of?

Its not 'going open source' as they were always open source, its change of license.

Plenty of other products started slipping downhill after management saw a need to change the license. Why else would you change your license terms if its not to then be able to change your business practises down the road?

Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#236

Post by aae42 »

hexfish wrote: post #178
nocoder wrote: post #64

What would be a good way to backup the passwords stored in Bitwarden? I am worried that someday suddenly bitwarden could stop working and I will lose access to all the stored passwords? Should I have a physical copy of all the passwords stored in a vault at home?

Frankly I would worry about that with any third party that holds my data. There are a few Bitwarden exporters on Github that also account for attachments (something the builtin exporter doesn't for some reason).

BW synchronizes all your data on each client... if you logged in before, and your server goes down, you can still log in to a recent client, it just won't be able to update

you could recover from that

Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#237

Post by blendergeek »

Shorel wrote: post #200
blendergeek wrote: post #19

Thank you to Bitwarden for relicensing a thing to Free/Open License! Unfortunately, I no longer recommend Bitwarden for normal people because the built-in password manager in Firefox is too good. But for anyone with more advance needs (or who doesn't trust a password manager built into a web browser, I always recommend Bitwarden because KeepassXC + syncing is way too difficult for normal people.

> Unfortunately, I no longer recommend Bitwarden for normal people because the built-in password manager in Firefox is too good. I don't doubt the quality of Firefox's password manager, or your honesty. But normal people just don't use Firefox.

Normal people don't use Bitwarden either. And I suppose I don't know any normal people which isn't too surprising.

Normal people use Apple's built-in password manager.

Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#238

Post by afavour »

odo1242 wrote: post #13
jdlyga wrote: post #8

Bitwarden is still excellent, but keep an eye on them over the next few years. Remember that Bitwarden was originally a LastPass alternative without the fuckery.

I mean, it still is. It’s honestly gotten better too - for evidence, it’s the one password manager that never gets recommended by sponsored YouTubers but always gets recommended by non-sponsored YouTubers.

It depresses me that Bitwarden has also taken VC funding, just like 1Password. It’s still a great product but as with any VC product I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop when it’s revenue generation time.

Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#239

Post by master-lincoln »

sneak wrote: post #18

Doesn’t GPL mean that it can’t be forked and published into the Apple iOS app store? Presumably they are able to do it because they own the rights and can grant a non-GPL license to Apple for distribution. This seems to me to still be a “nobody can fork this [and still have a viable iOS app] but us”.

Everybody can fork this and build an iOS app. You just can't distribute through the app store as far as I understand. Would be good now if there were other means to install an app on iOS for non-devs, but users chose to ignore that issue when they joined the walled garden that is Apple Inc

Maybe the European Union comes to the rescue... (for Europeans)

Re: Bitwarden SDK relicensed from proprietary to GPLv3

#240

Post by neobrain »

danpalmer wrote: post #78
simfree wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox password sync just works. It's one of those things I never think about. Watching friends and family struggle with bespoke, poorly integrated password managers makes me cringe and is one of the big reasons I enjoy the seamless experience of the built-in Firefox password manager.

Does it require a Firefox account? Does it only store them locally if you haven't signed in to Firefox? This is the sort of failure I've seen, where people think their passwords are synced but because they didn't sign in years ago it's actually not backed up at all. At least on Chrome you get reminded of that all the time on YouTube/Google search, etc. I know for Safari all the sync is via iCloud meaning if you're no…

> Does it require a Firefox account? Does it only store them locally if you haven't signed in to Firefox?

The passwords are available offline, so they are stored locally.

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