Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project • Hacker News Board

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#681

Post by addison-lee » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 10:58 PM UTC

cwkoss wrote: post #525

normac2 wrote: post #146

I'm on a job search, and Replit is one of the places I was going to apply, off of their listings on HN Who is Hiring?. So much for that, and I suspect a lot of devs are going to feel the same. (I don't think I'm good enough to get in, but there're a lot of really good devs who read HN who are.) In a seller's market for developers, this could hurt them in the form of less good talent applying. That said, my gut feelin…

Would it be against HN's rules to reply to Who's Hiring posts from Replit with a link to this article?

I don’t see how it would be especially if you pair it with a questionable asking if they treat all former employees like this.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#682

Post by amasad » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 10:59 PM UTC

tommoor wrote: post #634

> we’re also excited to announce one of the first (of many!) projects that Amjad has worked on with us: Codecademy Labs, the easiest way to play with JavaScript, Ruby, and Python online I'll just leave this here so we can all bask in the insane hypocrisy of this entire episode. https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca... Edit: See Amjad's response below – seems Repl.it may have pre-dated this hiri…

That was a clone of Replit that we made work at Codecademy. I started working on Replit (or repl.it) back when I was a student in Jordan. I didn't have a laptop so every time I wanted to get some programming done I had to setup a development environment at the university or at work. The idea for Replit was when you needed a repl to do some coding you should easily get one from anywhere including a mobile device. I thought it would benefit many people, especially those who don't have the means to buy expensive computers.

It took 2 years of work to get something working and in 2011 we launched on HN (2011 web archive snapshot here https://web.archive.org/web/20111007050930/http://repl.it/ and HN launch here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3056490). It was the first of its kind and it inspired a lot of projects and still does today. It was totally open-source (https://github.com/replit-archive/repl.it) and after the launch it was used as infrastructure by Codecademy (which later employed me) and Udacity and many others to deliver interactive coding in the browser. I was thrilled about that.

Now, a lot of people implicitly assume that in a dispute between for-profit company and an open-source project, the for-profit company must be in the wrong. But there is some line that it's unethical to cross in copying a former employer's product (if you don't believe that, you can stop reading now, because no argument will convince you) and I think to someone who knew Replit's architecture well, this project would clearly be across it. It copied even unique, invisible aspects of Replit's architecture that I consider to be flaws. That's the hallmark of copying versus merely writing one's own program to solve the same problem.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#683

Post by sg47 » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:02 PM UTC

spoonjim wrote: post #28

I could understand an over eager lawyer but this is the CEO of a company with $20 million in funding personally threatening to sic the lawyers on a one man open source project. This is evidence that: 1) he doesn’t have anything better to do, bad news for Replit, 2) he’s afraid of this little project, also bad news for Replit.

Cue article from PG on how founders have to watch out for upstarts by giving them a lashing and issuing legal threats.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#684

Post by _d7dt » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:03 PM UTC

amasad wrote: post #682

tommoor wrote: post #634

> we’re also excited to announce one of the first (of many!) projects that Amjad has worked on with us: Codecademy Labs, the easiest way to play with JavaScript, Ruby, and Python online I'll just leave this here so we can all bask in the insane hypocrisy of this entire episode. https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca... Edit: See Amjad's response below – seems Repl.it may have pre-dated this hiri…

That was a clone of Replit that we made work at Codecademy. I started working on Replit (or repl.it) back when I was a student in Jordan. I didn't have a laptop so every time I wanted to get some programming done I had to setup a development environment at the university or at work. The idea for Replit was when you needed a repl to do some coding you should easily get one from anywhere including a mobile device. I th…

Hi Amjad, thanks for taking the time to respond. Can you please talk to Radon and work with him to remove the offending "unique and invisible" aspects, to make it so he can put his project back up? There must be some way to make it so that these projects can co-exist without causing any trouble, and it can probably done in a way that is much cheaper than bringing a lawsuit.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#685

Post by ipaddr » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:04 PM UTC

brabel wrote: post #203

yellow_lead wrote: post #3

A 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.

Agreed... but the intern is obviously incredibly naive in thinking that repl.it would be happy to see one of their ex-interns working on a project that does pretty much the same kind of thing they're doing... whether or not this is a threat to them right now. There's a tiny, but non-zero chance, that this project could become successful and who knows, take marketshare from repl.it... and while everyone is pretending…

If they were that valuable why would you ever let them leave?

You can't end the employment agreement and still expect others to act like they work for you. Every ex-employee is a business person on the same level as you. If they see an opportunity and beat you, you were a fool for letting them go.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#686

Post by soneca » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:05 PM UTC

amasad wrote: post #682

tommoor wrote: post #634

> we’re also excited to announce one of the first (of many!) projects that Amjad has worked on with us: Codecademy Labs, the easiest way to play with JavaScript, Ruby, and Python online I'll just leave this here so we can all bask in the insane hypocrisy of this entire episode. https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca... Edit: See Amjad's response below – seems Repl.it may have pre-dated this hiri…

That was a clone of Replit that we made work at Codecademy. I started working on Replit (or repl.it) back when I was a student in Jordan. I didn't have a laptop so every time I wanted to get some programming done I had to setup a development environment at the university or at work. The idea for Replit was when you needed a repl to do some coding you should easily get one from anywhere including a mobile device. I th…

If the author was maliciously crossing the ethical line, why they would show the project privately to you? If the author was not maliciously crossing the ethical line, why were you so quick to threaten legal action and bully them by mentioning that you had the money to make it dangerous for them?

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#687

Post by kyawzazaw » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:06 PM UTC

amasad wrote: post #682

tommoor wrote: post #634

> we’re also excited to announce one of the first (of many!) projects that Amjad has worked on with us: Codecademy Labs, the easiest way to play with JavaScript, Ruby, and Python online I'll just leave this here so we can all bask in the insane hypocrisy of this entire episode. https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca... Edit: See Amjad's response below – seems Repl.it may have pre-dated this hiri…

That was a clone of Replit that we made work at Codecademy. I started working on Replit (or repl.it) back when I was a student in Jordan. I didn't have a laptop so every time I wanted to get some programming done I had to setup a development environment at the university or at work. The idea for Replit was when you needed a repl to do some coding you should easily get one from anywhere including a mobile device. I th…

Do you feel the same about Zoom's CEO and Jet.com's CEO?

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#688

Post by xbp » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:06 PM UTC

Appalling and completely unacceptable behavior from a company so committed to being a conduit for open-source innovation.

Slightly unrelated: I used to shamelessly promote repl.it a couple years ago, but no longer do because their app has become so bloated and hard to use that it's discouraging to beginners -- recently I tried to remotely help a non-technical friend w/ an assignment and we must've spent ~20 minutes dealing with account creation, sending the correct invite link, and making sure we could both see our changes; it felt like a terrible waste of time especially as I kept reminding them "I promise it's worth it this app rocks!"

The app used to actually be awesome back when you could spin up an env in seconds, send the link to a friend, and immediately start collaborating.. Hopefully this will be the nail in the coffin, or at least lead to a mass migration from the platform.. :/

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#689

Post by EarlKing » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:07 PM UTC

29athrowaway wrote: post #387

yellow_lead wrote: post #3

A 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.

Sounds like the plot of the movie Antitrust.

Only if you equate sternly worded letters from the CEO with a visit from murderous thugs who steal your stuff.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#690

Post by andrewchambers » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 11:08 PM UTC

soneca wrote: post #686

amasad wrote: post #682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a clone of Replit that we made work at Codecademy. I started working on Replit (or repl.it) back when I was a student in Jordan. I didn't have a laptop so every time I wanted to get some programming done I had to setup a development environment at the university or at work. The idea for Replit was when you needed a repl to do some coding you should easily get one from anywhere including a mobile device. I th…

If the author was maliciously crossing the ethical line, why they would show the project privately to you? If the author was not maliciously crossing the ethical line, why were you so quick to threaten legal action and bully them by mentioning that you had the money to make it dangerous for them?

They might if they were seeking approval to show as later evidence.