Domain: ichessu.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to ichessu.com.
Comments · 6
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Re:Right.... bit of clarificationNot that the EULA applies:
From http://www.ichessu.com/Download.aspx?subPage=Down
l oadClientApplication we read:Download client for lectures and games
Return to DownloadsI accept all of the foregoing terms either by clicking here or by any further use of the Software.
I do not accept all of the foregoing terms.
There are precisely NULL foregoing terms.
Yeah, sure there is an EULA that FOLLOWS, but I only accepted the foregoing terms so I didn't bother reading that part.
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Let IChessU know how you feel
They have a feedback page.
http://www.ichessu.com/Feedback.aspx?type=help
I put my comments in there. -
Re:Right.... bit of clarification
I personally feel as though this is an overreaction, the ichessu site does not hide the fact its based on JIN and offers sources, or am I wrong and this is infact a genuine GPL violation?
Actually, there are several violations:
- IChessU's released source code does not compile, so it can't possibly be considered the "complete corresponding source code", regardless of the status of the audio/video library (which to the best of my understanding of the GPL is also covered by it).
- IChessU do not release their application under the GPL, but instead under a horrendous EULA. Read it, really.
- Although they do mention Jin, they don't mention my copyright. Instead it's "Copyright (C) [2006] [unknown]", as if they don't know whose copyright Jin is.
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Re:Right.... bit of clarification
Mind you, it would help if the source was online, http://www.ichessu.com/Files/ichessu_sources.zip gives a 404
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Right.... bit of clarification
There is an open source chess client called JIN licensed under the GPL.
This is an executable and front end chess client.
This has been extended by iChessU to support a closed source DLL which adds new functionality (notably video streaming between players).
The source code to the Expanded client is available and providing you have the closed source binary DLL, you can run the newly compiled program.
Isn't this like me releasing a GPL program which is linked to the nvidia or ATI blobs?
Hell, isn't it similar if I write a GPL application which uses the Windows API?
I personally feel as though this is an overreaction, the ichessu site does not hide the fact its based on JIN and offers sources, or am I wrong and this is infact a genuine GPL violation? -
GPL violations against the smalltime developer
Tangentially en topic, but this is a good chance to post my article which slashdot has rejected twice now:
I am the developer of Jin, a client for chess servers, licensed under the GPL. About 6 months ago I was contacted by the Internet Chess University, asking for a commercial license for Jin. After negotiations failed, IChessU decided to nevertheless use Jin, but did not release the full source code of the client they built. I have contacted both the FSF and the EFF, but they were unable to help me because they are not licensed to practice law in Israel (both I, and the owners of IChessU are Israeli). I have no intention of dropping the issue, but I am now stuck with paying a lawyer out of my own pocket, which is very limited. Read the whole story.
The question is then, what kind of protection does the GPL really give the small-time FOSS developer, who can't afford fancy lawyer to enforce it? What does this mean for such developers?