extremely unrelated to repl.it: thank you for straight.el !
Yes, this is the only sane way I found of managing packages on Emacs. Talented guy!
Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
291–300 of 1001 posts
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#292If I’m reading those emails correctly, Amjad the CEO directly emailed you occasionally. It is pretty stunning that as the CEO of the company, he would stoop to what I interpret as pretty unprofessional communication and petty threats. I also am failing to connect the dots about why Replit would even feel threatened - if you were as helpful of an intern as described, you’d think they would recognize that you had good…
I’d agree with you if this was just a random person, but from this thread (I haven’t read the article) I gather that s/he was actually an intern... surely every intern/employee would sign some kind of non-compete / trade secret / intellectual property agreement? In that case, the CEO is completely justified in pursuing to enforce that agreement! Again, it would be different if the CEO threatened a random third party…
Why are you reading and replying to the comments when you haven't read the article? You've come at this with a terrible take by inventing a non-existent NDA that would exonerate the CEO. Why bother?
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#293Naturally, I took down my project right away...
Did your internship had any no-conflict, no-compete clause for any future assignments? Or are you infringing on any patent?
If not, there is no need to succumb to this bullying.
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#294A fancy funded company like Replit getting scared by an intern's weekend project is entertaining. If your moat is so low it can be replicated in a few days, I think this open source project is the least of their worries.
I wouldn't underestimate the potential of that project.
I know of other cases where well funded CEOs have tried bullying away someone who recently worked for them from starting a company in a related space. Glad that they weren't able to shut it down, and the new founder has raised a nice round. I'd love to see Radon succeed with his project.
IANAL but I don't think you can patent "path depencence". It is sunk cost
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#295Guys, I don’t know what this is about yet, but I know amjad (ceo). And I know that whatever is going on here, his intentions were pure. He’s proven himself to me that he’s pretty much the opposite of a sleezy corporate ceo who crushes intern side projects while twirling his mustache. I just wanted to encourage everybody to chill on it for a moment and wait to see what’s up, because my spidey senses are screaming “mis…
When will society learn the lesson that people's goodness and "pureness" is based on the actions they take, and not on the opinions they hold or the manner they hold in private company.
In fairness, you’re absolutely right. I’ve even see this play out from the other side, where everybody thinks X is pure and noble, but X was doing worrisome things when no one was looking.
But look at this from an “out of body” perspective for a moment. Isn’t it just a little convenient that the first thing you read, right at the top of that blog post, is also the most cartoonishly evil thing? Are you absolutely certain that we’re not missing some crucial context here? How often have we seen this kind of outrage where, later on, it turns out that was a lot more complicated than we’d originally assumed?
All that said, yes, you’re correct. And that’s really all that matters. But I can think of a few other things that might be going on (admittedly, I have to be pretty creative to think of something plausible, but they do exist).
I’ll keep reading and start asking around. Maybe the cartoonishly evil thing is the true thing, but if it’s not, at least I won’t have fallen for it.
(And it it was the true thing, I will be hat in hand with apologies. Heck, I’d be the first to bring a pitchfork if this was true at face value.)
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#296Did the author disclose the work on Riju as a prior invention before joining Repl.it? If so that puts him in the clear. I would also check your hiring contract to see what kind of clauses are in there about prior inventions. For larger companies, I don't think this company behavior would surprise anyone. I think I can understand where Repl.it is coming from. All I know is this behavior (by Riju author) isn't somethin…
Even if Repl.it rightly felt it was a breach of their IP, the CEO could have assumed good faith, explained his concerns kindly, and politely requested the project be taken down. The interesting thing is that he seemingly panicked, resorted to legal threats almost immediately, and even stooped to warning the kid that they have deep pockets. It’s like something you’d expect from 90s Microsoft, just more scrappy and trashy. And this is Repl.it, a company where you’d imagine OSS community relations would be a big deal.
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#297I...am on the side of the company here? wierd... An employee of a company left, and then made an open source clone of the company's software. The fact that the software was easy to clone or that others had done it previously doesn't seem really relevant. Several times I have left a company, and I could replicate a good percentage of it in a couple days too, not because it was easy, but because the months/years of exp…
Bad take. It's not a clone, for the reasons explained in the article. It's more akin to the multitude of "run code online" sites that already existed before Replit was started.
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#298I...am on the side of the company here? wierd... An employee of a company left, and then made an open source clone of the company's software. The fact that the software was easy to clone or that others had done it previously doesn't seem really relevant. Several times I have left a company, and I could replicate a good percentage of it in a couple days too, not because it was easy, but because the months/years of exp…
If the intern was pursuing this project as a business, then I could sympathize with legal threats. But this is clearly a passion project. Why make such a big fuss over a side project?
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
They offered to hire him before insinuating he was a bad/demanding intern, as well. This is standard manipulative behavior and has little benefit to anyone besides attempting to make the intern feel bad. This isn't the first time I've seen a founder resort to this exact type of behavior before threatening legal action.
I would play devil's advocate here and say that the situation is probably muddier than it is presented in the blog. Also there appers to be a level of trust here (at least the Replit CEO trusted that OP will not make this go viral on HN and spiral into a PR nightmare I suppose, which though is the most entertaining path it can take) Not sure how talented OP is. This can as well be a case study of who not to hire.
> Also there appers to be a level of trust here.
Amjad, replit's CEO, offered to hire OP, later accused them of copying their "internal designs", then threatened them with lawyers replit's millions can buy, eventually to stonewall and stop replying to their emails. What kind of trust is that?
> Not sure how talented OP is. This can as well be a case study of who not to hire.
That's a valid perspective, alright. One that's minority I sincerely hope.
Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project
#300I...am on the side of the company here? wierd... An employee of a company left, and then made an open source clone of the company's software. The fact that the software was easy to clone or that others had done it previously doesn't seem really relevant. Several times I have left a company, and I could replicate a good percentage of it in a couple days too, not because it was easy, but because the months/years of exp…
Why? Assuming that there isn't a non-compete signed by the former employee, the (former) employee has the right to use all their skills and knowledge to do whatever they want on the free market.