6 ms·

This reaction is normal, aletik could have been the next Jia Tan, for all we know, and could have distributed "fake notepad++ for Mac" binaries with backdoors i

by rpigab 5mo ago

This reaction is normal, aletik could have been the next Jia Tan, for all we know, and could have distributed "fake notepad++ for Mac" binaries with backdoors in them to thousand of Mac users who think it is an officially n++-endorsed project when it is not, created by someone who is unknown. Aletik can fork n++ and find a name for it, but can't use the brand and logo, and should be stopped by all means necessary if he does not comply ASAP. Tech bloggers should know better than to promote this without checking.

PythagoRascal 5mo ago
"The author" in above comment refers to the author of the port. So, yes, thats what they meant.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
doginasuit 5mo ago
> Tech bloggers should know better than to promote this without checking. Agreed, and it also seems unlikely this will be their takeaway. They now get to report on the drama which will probably get more clicks.
stackghost 5mo ago
>Tech bloggers should know better than to promote this without checking. Tech bloggers are just LLMs these days
tardedmeme 5mo ago
If you compiled notepad++ for Mac how should you make it available on the internet so people with Macs can download notepad++? Don't tell me you have to call it something else because that's absolutely insane, even if the law agrees.
- koiueo 5mo ago
  > If you compiled notepad++ for Mac That's not what happened: - there's a lot of UI code, so it's not a mere distribution for Mac, not even sure it qualifies as a port at this point - also, the authors page states Letov as the first author It's in fact a fork. And unless the original author is ok with that, you shouldn't advertise your fork under the original name.
- hnlmorg 5mo ago
  The issue is by calling it Notepad++, you're now confusing users into thinking it's officially endorsed. Which means complaints, feature requests, bugs, and even any backdoors/malware included in the unofficial version tarnishes the reputation of the official product. This is why trademarks exist.
  - tardedmeme 5mo ago
    So what should you do? Just call it My Awesome Notepad and expect users who are searching for Notepad++ to somehow find it? A name like "John's Notepad++ for Mac" would seem reasonable to me but still isn't compliant with trademark law.
    - hnlmorg 5mo ago
      > So what should you do? Just call it My Awesome Notepad and expect users who are searching for Notepad++ to somehow find it? Yes. Exactly that. You have no entitlement to free publicity based of someone else's hard work growing their own brand. You could arguably say "Awesome Notepad, a Notepad++ fork" but even here, the trademark holders can demand you to remove the references to their product if they wished. In this specific instance, Given Notepad++ is open source, I suspect the maintainers of Notepad++ might have been okay with this approach. Though it's a little late for that now because the Mac port author has burned any good faith they might have had. Another option is to gain trust with the Notepad++ maintainers and then request they link to "Awesome Notepad" project site as an endorsed 3rd party port. But again, the Mac port author hasn't taken the right approach to gain any trust there. So as it stands, "Notepad++ Mac" is intentionally using Notepad++'s trademarks and branding as a way to get publicity quickly. I don't think they're doing it maliciously, but the intent is still dishonest.
ruszki 5mo ago
Those very bad takes to push to merge a completely new codebase into Notepad++ project very much seems like a Jia Tan event. However, it’s probably not, because how bad they are. Nobody will be convinced with something like this, ever. One for sure, they don’t seem organic at all. They look like exactly how controlled political discourses are. Either there is a hit piece somewhere, or the comments are not genuine at all.

by rpigab 5mo ago

PythagoRascal 5mo ago

"The author" in above comment refers to the author of the port. So, yes, thats what they meant.

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

doginasuit 5mo ago

> Tech bloggers should know better than to promote this without checking. Agreed, and it also seems unlikely this will be their takeaway. They now get to report on the drama which will probably get more clicks.

stackghost 5mo ago

>Tech bloggers should know better than to promote this without checking. Tech bloggers are just LLMs these days

tardedmeme 5mo ago

If you compiled notepad++ for Mac how should you make it available on the internet so people with Macs can download notepad++? Don't tell me you have to call it something else because that's absolutely insane, even if the law agrees.

koiueo 5mo ago
> If you compiled notepad++ for Mac That's not what happened: - there's a lot of UI code, so it's not a mere distribution for Mac, not even sure it qualifies as a port at this point - also, the authors page states Letov as the first author It's in fact a fork. And unless the original author is ok with that, you shouldn't advertise your fork under the original name.
hnlmorg 5mo ago
The issue is by calling it Notepad++, you're now confusing users into thinking it's officially endorsed. Which means complaints, feature requests, bugs, and even any backdoors/malware included in the unofficial version tarnishes the reputation of the official product. This is why trademarks exist.
- tardedmeme 5mo ago
  So what should you do? Just call it My Awesome Notepad and expect users who are searching for Notepad++ to somehow find it? A name like "John's Notepad++ for Mac" would seem reasonable to me but still isn't compliant with trademark law.
  - hnlmorg 5mo ago
    > So what should you do? Just call it My Awesome Notepad and expect users who are searching for Notepad++ to somehow find it? Yes. Exactly that. You have no entitlement to free publicity based of someone else's hard work growing their own brand. You could arguably say "Awesome Notepad, a Notepad++ fork" but even here, the trademark holders can demand you to remove the references to their product if they wished. In this specific instance, Given Notepad++ is open source, I suspect the maintainers of Notepad++ might have been okay with this approach. Though it's a little late for that now because the Mac port author has burned any good faith they might have had. Another option is to gain trust with the Notepad++ maintainers and then request they link to "Awesome Notepad" project site as an endorsed 3rd party port. But again, the Mac port author hasn't taken the right approach to gain any trust there. So as it stands, "Notepad++ Mac" is intentionally using Notepad++'s trademarks and branding as a way to get publicity quickly. I don't think they're doing it maliciously, but the intent is still dishonest.

ruszki 5mo ago

Those very bad takes to push to merge a completely new codebase into Notepad++ project very much seems like a Jia Tan event. However, it’s probably not, because how bad they are. Nobody will be convinced with something like this, ever. One for sure, they don’t seem organic at all. They look like exactly how controlled political discourses are. Either there is a hit piece somewhere, or the comments are not genuine at all.