Slashdot Mirror
MicroBSD Is No More
TrumpetPower! writes "Recently there's been quite a row in the OpenBSD community over copyright infringement by the OpenBSD spinoff, MicroBSD. Many parts of MicroBSD would seem to be a wholesale search-n-replace of the two names...including copyright notices. As a result, MicroBSD has shut down. It's worth noting that, as of this story submission, the MicroBSD Web site is still up and running with no special notices."
After reading the various links given, it looks to me like the MicroBSD guys had an idea, started working on it, one of their developers screwed up and changed come copyright info, people complained, the project wasn't going anywhere anyways, so it just stopped. Didn't look like there was willfull copyright infringment, and I'd like to believe that it really would have been fixed, like the micro guys said.
Don't attribute to malice what stupidity can explain (or whatever the exact quote is.)
That is the core of the BSD license, as long as you give credit where it is due ,you can do what you want with the code, including selling it.
So this doesn't really make since as a valid reason alone.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
There is fairly good circumstantial proof that it was intentional because of examples like:
Actually, these examples all seem like proof that it was unintentional.
Think about it. You want to fork a project, one of the first things you do is change the name. The simplest way to do that is with "s/OpenBSD/MicroBSD/g" - but oops, you forgot that this would also change all of the copyright notices.
This would explain every single one of your examples (case-sensitivity in the web and email addresses, and it wouldn't change any graphics, but it would change the alt-tag.)
It certainly seems unintentional to me. If they really had intended to breach copyright, wouldn't they have changed every text instance, and deleted stuff they couldn't change easily (like the OpenBSD logo)?
Yeh OK so maybe there was a bunch of search & replace but christ everyone needs to start SOMEWHERE.
Sure maybe someone did search and replace so they accidently replaced the copyright, maybe someone modified the copyright - what you need to realise is that there were many people with CVS commit and access and the founders probably didnt even look at the notices to check.
Its also notable that alot of openbsd stuff is in there so they havent just done a mass search and replace rebadge and re-release.
Obviously a rather fierce reaction was launched against the project to force them to act so abruptly, I don't see the problem with a polite "Excuse me you violated our copyright please fix it or we will XYZ" you should also reliase this is the open source community and events like this just shunt the initiative and creativity of people which shows a complete lack of maturity and disregard for the principles of open source and free software. It seems to be as if they were given no chance or time to fix the violations that existed and correct everything and felt forced to go away. Shame on anyone involved with that. You just crushed someone's dream.
To everyone in the MicroBSD IRC channel and all the developers regardless i wish you the best you were a great bunch of guys to hang with while it lasted and we'll chat again some time, i bet on it.
Here's an example. After using Linux for several years, I gave FreeBSD a try and was very impressed by the solid kernel and coherent userland. There were a few things I couldn't fathom out though, like getting USB joysticks working, and asking on the mailing lists or similar forums always got the same kind of responses: "Go back to Linux if you want that", "FreeBSD is brill and doesn't need to support it" etc.
It's this zealotry, patronising attitude and belief that FreeBSD is the "one true OS" that is really damaging its acceptance.
Golly, now perhaps you understand what longtime Windows users are made to feel like when they ask similar questions of the Linux community!
A taste of one's own medicine, I'd say.