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Samsung Acquires Joyent

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Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#61

Post by cyphar »

dmpk2k wrote: post #28
ruffrey wrote: post #24

Luckily they did not acquire Node.js edit: I should have been more specific.. when an open source project is under a company's wing and it gets acquired, you don't know what can happen, even under MIT. Look at express recently. Since it's the under the Node Foundation now, this is not a big deal. Had it happened a short time ago, there may have been further turmoil in the community.

Given that Node.js has always been MIT licensed, that's impossible. That's one reason why it had a liberal license; just listen to Cantrill's Oracle rants sometime to get a better idea.

Cantrill advocated the fact that CDDL was copyleft as a good thing[1] (it's a bad license overall, but the point is the same) specifically mentioning that the fact that Oracle couldn't use new DTrace and ZFS improvements from the community was a good thing. I agree (though I much prefer the GPL).

So actually all of Cantrill's worries with Oracle exist with Node.js's license. I am sad when I see large free software projects licensed under MIT, we are doing ourselves a disservice by allowing proprietary software to take advantage of the free software we've developed.

[1] It's part of his Fork Yeah! talk about the fork that is illumos.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#62

Post by 746F7475 »

wrong_variable wrote: post #13
cpprototypes wrote: post #4

Samsung is a typical asian electronics company (has a hardware focused history and very good at it, but doesn't understand or respect software). I'm so glad that node.js is not under Joyent control.

I am not sure what Samsung being Asian has to do with anything :) This is good news for node.js since what this means is more money gets poured into node.js development. For example Microsoft pouring money into JS seems to have lead directly to Typescript.

Considering Samsung has been known to push for proprietary technology (they tried to create market of Android apps that would only work on Samsung's phones) I'm little worried there is going to be some sort of new node.js fork that's incompatible with current one and has some weird licensing stuff or something.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#63

Post by jsjohnst »

cpprototypes wrote: post #4

Samsung is a typical asian electronics company (has a hardware focused history and very good at it, but doesn't understand or respect software). I'm so glad that node.js is not under Joyent control.

Having worked in a Samsung office for enough time to have an informed opinion, I can emphatically say that the "hardware focused history" has nothing to do with their lacking on the software front. They have some amazing engineers (especially at HQ in Korea), but the main obstacles are partly Korean culture in general (especially as it pertains to engineers) and partly the management practices of the company. The best things they develop (either in partnership or internally) usually never have a fair leg in the market. I'm certainly not apologizing for the company, just saying don't think the issues you see are directly the engineer's fault.

I don't remember the exact Korean wording, but a common phrase said by Samsung engineers (under their breath) in Korea basically translates to "I'll do what you say, but it's only because I'm at ." My time there really made me appreciate how much better we have it here!

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#64

Post by fatihdonmez »

contingencies wrote: post #59
pkaye wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no personal experience working for Samsung but know quite a few who did work for their US team and most don't have a positive experience. I also know some who worked for other South Korean companies. Lets just say the Korean work culture is quite different than in a typical US company. Hopefully the Joyent guys will be shielded from all this.

I worked with two project managers from their US team STA (Samsung Technologies America). One was OK. The other one was a fucking psychopath. I'm talking about needlessly and viciously backstabbing all in range. Totally unbelievable. Never seen anything like it, and god help me I hope I never see it again. Later, I visited their HQ in Korea and met some of their Indian and Korean development teams. They were competen…

Then you should see the japanese way of working, it's also quite fun! I believe this is common in most of asia. I have worked in China and it's not quite different at all from what you're saying.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#65

Post by [deleted] »

fatihdonmez wrote: post #64
contingencies wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked with two project managers from their US team STA (Samsung Technologies America). One was OK. The other one was a fucking psychopath. I'm talking about needlessly and viciously backstabbing all in range. Totally unbelievable. Never seen anything like it, and god help me I hope I never see it again. Later, I visited their HQ in Korea and met some of their Indian and Korean development teams. They were competen…

Then you should see the japanese way of working, it's also quite fun! I believe this is common in most of asia. I have worked in China and it's not quite different at all from what you're saying.

[deleted]

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#66

Post by vacri »

berns wrote: post #50
ruffrey wrote: post #24

Luckily they did not acquire Node.js edit: I should have been more specific.. when an open source project is under a company's wing and it gets acquired, you don't know what can happen, even under MIT. Look at express recently. Since it's the under the Node Foundation now, this is not a big deal. Had it happened a short time ago, there may have been further turmoil in the community.

I think they still own the trademark. So even if anyone can fork node.js they can't use the name.

It's already been successfully forked once, under 'io.js', when a group of developers were frustrated at the slow pace of Joyent's custodianship. io.js came back to node.js after politicking.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#67

Post by jeswin »

jsjohnst wrote: post #63
cpprototypes wrote: post #4

Samsung is a typical asian electronics company (has a hardware focused history and very good at it, but doesn't understand or respect software). I'm so glad that node.js is not under Joyent control.

Having worked in a Samsung office for enough time to have an informed opinion, I can emphatically say that the "hardware focused history" has nothing to do with their lacking on the software front. They have some amazing engineers (especially at HQ in Korea), but the main obstacles are partly Korean culture in general (especially as it pertains to engineers) and partly the management practices of the company. The bes…

> They have some amazing engineers (especially at HQ in Korea), but the main obstacles are partly Korean culture in general (especially as it pertains to engineers) and partly the management practices of the company.

Can you explain the cultural aspects (and management shortcomings) in more detail for those of us who haven't experienced Korea? Thanks.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#68

Post by y04nn »

Negative1 wrote: post #35

Forgive my ignorance but can someone explain how Joyent's acquisition moves Samsung towards their strategic objectives? In other words, how are they going to exploit this technology (and brain gain)?

I have the same reaction, for me samsung is more a hardware company and the software they make is only to support their hardware. So is all future Joyent software development will be close sourced and only used by Samsung?

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#69

Post by bdcravens »

berns wrote: post #50
ruffrey wrote: post #24

Luckily they did not acquire Node.js edit: I should have been more specific.. when an open source project is under a company's wing and it gets acquired, you don't know what can happen, even under MIT. Look at express recently. Since it's the under the Node Foundation now, this is not a big deal. Had it happened a short time ago, there may have been further turmoil in the community.

I think they still own the trademark. So even if anyone can fork node.js they can't use the name.

Had the projects not merged back, I'm sure io.js would have gained significant ground, so I don't think this is that big of a deal.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#70

Post by pron »

dmpk2k wrote: post #28
ruffrey wrote: post #24

Luckily they did not acquire Node.js edit: I should have been more specific.. when an open source project is under a company's wing and it gets acquired, you don't know what can happen, even under MIT. Look at express recently. Since it's the under the Node Foundation now, this is not a big deal. Had it happened a short time ago, there may have been further turmoil in the community.

Given that Node.js has always been MIT licensed, that's impossible. That's one reason why it had a liberal license; just listen to Cantrill's Oracle rants sometime to get a better idea.

What does the license have to do with anything? Joyent themselves are now behind SmartOS, which is based on Solaris and its CDDL license. An open source license being more free or more liberal has absolutely nothing with the ability of the community to fork and/or continue support if the original owner discontinues it.
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