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I agree, after this happened to me I learned of a few other situations where the same thing happened to other friends. On my end if was a mix of naivete and fl

I agree, after this happened to me I learned of a few other situations where the same thing happened to other friends. On my end if was a mix of naivete and flattery which made me want to take the meeting. I suspect it is the same case for others. I will not make the same mistake the next time it happens.

brianwawok 1y ago
Do you think this stops the fork? It’s not like they can’t read the code.
- phillebaba 1y ago
  Well your license is only as good as you are able to enforce it. Even with the law there is no guarantees. I grew up thinking that people would follow the spirit of open source rather than the specific letter of the law. This is obviously not true, and probably never has been.
  - udev4096 1y ago
    No license stops someone from spinning off an OSS project into their closed-sourced enterprise offering. It's just sad that most corps see nothing wrong with this
    - Ajedi32 1y ago
      GPL definitely does.
      - nordsieck 1y ago
        > GPL definitely does. Clearly it doesn't because companies get caught doing it with GPL software all the time. ... and the only recourse is to sue them into compliance.
        nativeit 1y ago
        Were folks under the impression there were other options for license violations? Your comment implies that a lawsuit being the only recourse to enforce a license renders that license moot.
        debugnik 1y ago
        Some people just hoped that picking a corporate-unfriendly license would be enough of a deterrent by itself, because most folks can't actually afford to sue. But infringers, big and small, are increasingly realising that these licenses are toothless by themselves, they need to be backed by money.
        nativeit 1y ago
        I don’t disagree with any of that, I think the challenge is certainly the costs of enforcement. For GPL licenses anyway (I realize the OP used the more permissive MIT license) I think their is (or there should be) a non-profit foundation established to collectivize the funding and legal actions necessary to support open source projects in these kinds of scenarios. Certainly, pursuing license violations in a manner that maximizes awareness and makes examples out of violators should prompt others to reconsider their actions.
        WD-42 1y ago
        There is such a organization, it's called the Free Software Foundataion??? Where do you think the GPL comes from?
        pabs3 1y ago
        Software Freedom Conservancy are the most visible GPL enforcers these days. The FSF probably does some enforcement too, but doesn't seem to talk about it as much. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/ https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/
        nativeit 1y ago
        > For GPL licenses anyway...I think their[sic] is (or there should be) a non-profit foundation established to collectivize the funding and legal actions Hence my thinking there is. I kept thinking EFF for some reason, but I knew that wasn't right. EFF are the ones who consistently predict which anti-privacy/anti-consumer laws will definitely get passed.
      - pabs3 1y ago
        The GPL (and AGPL) are easy to comply with for a corporation, or anyone else really. Just redistribute your modifications under the same license, and ensure users can run modified versions on devices you distribute and you are done.
- j45 1y ago
  Still doesn't waste your time. Large corporations should and can be extremely clear about their intention, which is clear to them before they reach out.

brianwawok 1y ago

Do you think this stops the fork? It’s not like they can’t read the code.

phillebaba 1y ago
Well your license is only as good as you are able to enforce it. Even with the law there is no guarantees. I grew up thinking that people would follow the spirit of open source rather than the specific letter of the law. This is obviously not true, and probably never has been.
- udev4096 1y ago
  No license stops someone from spinning off an OSS project into their closed-sourced enterprise offering. It's just sad that most corps see nothing wrong with this
  - Ajedi32 1y ago
    GPL definitely does.
    - nordsieck 1y ago
      > GPL definitely does. Clearly it doesn't because companies get caught doing it with GPL software all the time. ... and the only recourse is to sue them into compliance.
      - nativeit 1y ago
        Were folks under the impression there were other options for license violations? Your comment implies that a lawsuit being the only recourse to enforce a license renders that license moot.
        debugnik 1y ago
        Some people just hoped that picking a corporate-unfriendly license would be enough of a deterrent by itself, because most folks can't actually afford to sue. But infringers, big and small, are increasingly realising that these licenses are toothless by themselves, they need to be backed by money.
        nativeit 1y ago
        I don’t disagree with any of that, I think the challenge is certainly the costs of enforcement. For GPL licenses anyway (I realize the OP used the more permissive MIT license) I think their is (or there should be) a non-profit foundation established to collectivize the funding and legal actions necessary to support open source projects in these kinds of scenarios. Certainly, pursuing license violations in a manner that maximizes awareness and makes examples out of violators should prompt others to reconsider their actions.
        WD-42 1y ago
        There is such a organization, it's called the Free Software Foundataion??? Where do you think the GPL comes from?
        pabs3 1y ago
        Software Freedom Conservancy are the most visible GPL enforcers these days. The FSF probably does some enforcement too, but doesn't seem to talk about it as much. https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/ https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/
        nativeit 1y ago
        > For GPL licenses anyway...I think their[sic] is (or there should be) a non-profit foundation established to collectivize the funding and legal actions Hence my thinking there is. I kept thinking EFF for some reason, but I knew that wasn't right. EFF are the ones who consistently predict which anti-privacy/anti-consumer laws will definitely get passed.
    - pabs3 1y ago
      The GPL (and AGPL) are easy to comply with for a corporation, or anyone else really. Just redistribute your modifications under the same license, and ensure users can run modified versions on devices you distribute and you are done.
j45 1y ago
Still doesn't waste your time. Large corporations should and can be extremely clear about their intention, which is clear to them before they reach out.