I thought this was a little bit odd as I knew Tiny Core had been around for a couple of years now. Typically if a FOSS project is going to use source forge for hosting they do so from the start. Still, I let the thought drop and went on with my day.This evening it was brought to my attention that the Tiny Core page on source forge was not added by anyone from the Tiny Core project itself - but simply by someone trying to solicit donations from themselves with someone else's work! Roberts, the founder of Tiny Core, tried to contact source forge, but did not receive any good news from them:
"When I contacted Sourceforge with a take down notice, I was told that if it is copyrighted material that I need to contact legal and prove it"
Check his post here for his full scoop on the matter. In short - the md5 sums on the source forge page match the md5 sums on the Tiny Core main downloads site - it is the exact same disc. I think it is horrible that source forge is refusing to take down this obvious fraud without first being called into legal action.
This is a slippery slope and I think if this issue is not resolved swiftly and properly we are going to see more of these copied projects appearing on source forge trying to solicit donations for greedy people. If there anyone out there with some legal background that can lend a hand - please get into contact with the Tiny Core folks and help them get this resolved!
For those that are not familiar with Tiny Core it is a super minimalistic Linux distro that runs on the 2.6 kernel and weighs in at 10megs. It uses Busybox, Tiny X, and Fltk. Check it out if you haven't already.
~Jeff Hoogland
B-Tards.
ReplyDeleteWell this is a slipper slope, in my opinion one that should never have to be climbed in the FOSS world. I know there is a surefire way to extinguish this sort of behavior and that is to simply ™ everything you touch, but IMHO this would seriously take away from the FOSS idea. In this case I am at a loss, maybe its the "M$ thing to do, grab some stuff someone else did and charge for it"
ReplyDeleteMaking stuff down without proof is even worse, just ask the victims of the recent ICE takedowns.
ReplyDeletewow, i didn't think anyone actually ever gave a donation to a project.
ReplyDelete> wow, i didn't think anyone actually ever gave a donation to a project.
ReplyDeleteWell, I didn't. Usually I regret not donating, but in this case it might be better to wait as this is sorted out.
OTOH, why not donating? It all boils down to convenience IMHO: if you have a couple of bucks you planned to spend (on a game, dinner, picnic, whatever) and something went wrong (your in-laws came to visit, for instance), just take the money and give some good project. It won't damage your retirement (if it's a couple of bucks) and, for little guys), a couple of bucks from a hundred users really can pay them a lot of beers.
Can't think of a better use for small money...
Making stuff down without proof is even worse, just ask the victims of the recent ICE takedowns.
ReplyDeleteThe proof is in the combination of the dates and the MD5sum markers. It does not take a lawyer for the head of SourceForge to see that one for themselves.
Has anyone noticed the other projects associated with the grimaldo user on Sourceforge? Do they have anything to do with him? I'm pretty sure RIPLinuX doesn't, nor Puppy Studio.
ReplyDeleteThat guy Dave Bukov, aka grimaldo, is training for big scam player.
ReplyDeleteHe's trying to squeeze:
* Grub Tint
* Grub Invaders
* Tiny Core Linux
* Puppy Studio
* aptosid
* meta4s
* RIPLinuX
* Boothorn DistrOS
They are not accepting donations. You probably should check your facts before accusing someone of fraud.
ReplyDeleteLets see... grimaldo is open source GPL-v2 licensed software for free. He's added some value by producing metalinks and such. He directs users back to the origuinal project. And he's not accepting donations.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the problem here?
Lets see... grimaldo is providing open source GPL-v2 licensed software for free. He's added some value by producing metalinks and such. He directs users back to the original project. And he's not accepting donations. What's the problem here?
ReplyDeleteI, for one, support the original authors in this case. If there was conversation between grimaldo and the other developers/projects, I'd believe he wasn't intentional/malicious.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen that conversation yet.
It isn't forbidden to ask donations
ReplyDeleteIt is forbidden don't mentioning clearly the original developers
Grimaldo clearly violates the GPL
> Grimaldo clearly violates the GPL
ReplyDeleteQuote the exact line.
I truly have great respect for RobertS and his work on TinyCore. DSL is dead! Long Live TinyCore. That said Grimaldo is merely providing an additional download mirror for TinyCore (and other project he admires as well.) He points to the accurate home page of the project and does not appear to be soliciting donations. This really appears to be much ado about nothing.
ReplyDelete