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Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

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

#731

Post by [deleted] »

rizpanjwani wrote: post #707
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…

this is disappointing behaviour. are there any alternatives to repl.it one can recommend? I don't want to use it anymore.

[deleted]

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

#732

Post by acmj »

rizpanjwani wrote: post #707
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…

this is disappointing behaviour. are there any alternatives to repl.it one can recommend? I don't want to use it anymore.

There is https://ideone.com. I compared several similar services last year, including repl.it of course. I liked ideone better for some reason I forgot. PS: I have just checked repl.it again. Its UI has been changed a lot and it seems to require signup now, which makes me even less likely to use it.

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

#733

Post by truetraveller »

ahmedalsudani wrote: post #712
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…

repl.it has been a project I've admired and recommended for a long time. The same can be said for many members of this community. A few reasons why there's so much anger, in my estimation: - When you support a project, you want its leaders to embody decent values. - You have always projected an image of someone who's "nice" and doing things right. You cannot bully your intern in private and keep that image. - Most im…

The anger is exaggerated, and there are still many unknowns. Did he sign a non-compete agreement? If so, the intern would be breaking that agreement. It makes no difference if he raised $20 million or $100 million. There is nothing "tyrannical" about that.

I suppose you are a Muslim from your name. The Muslim stays silent when he is unsure. He stays clear of "drama". He thinks the best of other humans, and especially of his Muslim brothers.

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

#734

Post by smusamashah »

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…

Ideon existed since 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091214124037/http://ideone.com...

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

#735

Post by truetraveller »

tw04 wrote: post #706
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…

>It copied even unique, invisible aspects of Replit's architecture that I consider to be flaws. And yet you haven’t managed to tell anyone what these “invisible” aspects are. So it kind of just sounds like you’re making things up.

What right does the public have to know this? None. It's their secret sauce, it's reasonable they don't want to publicize it.

Obviously, Radon has every right to know. But not us.

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

#736

Post by DangitBobby »

danso wrote: post #320

I definitely agree the CEO could've handled this better, in a way that wouldn't bring the Streisand effect down on him. But I also don't fault him for being suspicious when a former intern creates something that seemingly uses the same ideas and concepts that the intern directly worked on while at Replit. Even if the author's assertions (about not using any proprietary knowledge gained as an intern) are all 100% true…

Thanks for sharing this. Any reservations I had in siding with the blog poster have been erased.

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

#737

Post by protoduction »

DangitBobby wrote: post #713
xbp wrote: post #688

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 d…

I only want something with slightly less friction than a jupyter notebook but better for controlled editing that an ipython shell. Something that doesnt make any files on my filesystem or anything else that I have to clean up later. That's why I'm looking for an online repl! Okay, I can live with having to be logged in because it keeps me logged in for a long time, but do I really need to figure out what I want to ca…

I'm building Starboard, https://starboard.gg, maybe that fits your needs? It runs in the browser itself and is open source.

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

#738

Post by Waterluvian »

codingdave wrote: post #111

> Naturally, I took down my project right away... So a CEO bullied you. He threatened to have lawyers look at something, accused you of behaving poorly, and accused you of being difficult. He is being manipulative. He is trying to guilt / scare you into stopping. And it worked. For all readers... do not be afraid of lawyers. Especially if nobody has even talked to them yet. Lawyers do not like to lose cases, so will…

Lawyers can do immense damage to your life even if you've done absolutely nothing wrong. Go ask DevinCow on Twitter.

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

#739

Post by kabdib »

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…

There's a big difference between hard-won technology (worthwhile protecting with patents, or trade secret law) and "this is how we designed this iteration of the project." Of course your implementation is secret (because it's closed source). That doesn't make it valuable enough to sue over, unless you want to be in the same camp as the asshats at Oracle / SCO.

If you didn't seriously consider obtaining patents for your efforts (and then decide to keep them as trade secrets, for whatever reason) then they're probably not valuable enough to jumpstart lawyers.

At the moment, I think you've done a fair amount of damage to your company's reputation. If I were on your board, we would be having some hard conversations right now.

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

#740

Post by ztratar »

simonhamp wrote: post #656
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…

Cheaters always watching over their shoulder. How can you trust people if you know they can't trust you? Or worse, you can't trust yourself!

Just going out to say the amount of speculation on this thread combined with character assassination is pretty shitty.

This is one side of the story, we don't have much evidence either direction, and it's not clear there was any "cheating" involved in anyone's past.

HN should do better.

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