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VIA Releases Source To Custom WASTE Client
daten writes "VIA has released the source code to their Padlock SL product, based on the Nullsoft WASTE code previously pulled by AOL. Padlock SL offers encrypted chat, instant messaging and file sharing over a private peer-to-peer network. Unlike WASTE, which is still under active development, the VIA client offers a graphical interface for both Windows and Linux users and simpler configuration."
They say it, but that doesn't make it true. An agent of the company posted the software under the GPL. AOL/Nullsoft's dispute is with Justin Frankel if they contend the release was unauthorized. But released it was, and it is under the GPL.
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This is another example of the OSS community wasting time duplicating their efforts. IM? We've got at least 3 networks out there already, and hundreds of clients. File sharing? FTP, HTTP, Kazaa, Bit Torrent, etc. Who cares abuot yet ANOTHER of the same thing. Is there are OSS coders with free time on their hands (and there obviously are plenty), how about a usable Point of Sale system? How about wirting *anything* that hasn't been done 1000 times already?
If some Microsoft employee posts the Windows code under the GPL, that will not make the code GPL. If Frankel had no power to approve the release under the GPL, then it was unauthorized and the GPL does not apply.
Since Frankel had the power to release software under the GPL, and it was only after the software was released that his employers thought to limit his power to release the software, it is ok for us to continue to distribute the software.
according to an article on the inquirer, even if we assume WASTE was licenced under the GPL, VIA took out all the copyrights in the code which violates the GPL making it illegal
We have seen the results of CAN-SPAM act. That should clue you in on the first point.
Next, you want a government specified secure mail protocol? I hate to be rude, but that is like asking for government specified quality literature. Any attempt at that would come out of committee dripping with pork fat, backdoored by every TLA in the country, overseen by a new agency that would tax it, and likely incapable of functioning in the real world.
Please step away from the crack pipe.
I forget what 8 was for.
The FSF saying it presumes it was an unauthorized release is prudent but equivalent to an assumption of guilt. Frankel had traditionally released software apparently at will, with nary a peep from AOL, but Waste drew fire. Given that precedent points to him being allowed to release the code, in order to prove that it was unauthorized someone is likely going to have to show that someone higher up the food chain than Frankel explicitly told him not to release Waste.
The FSF is not saying that they think it was an unauthorized release. They're saying that they have no idea, and that if you get busted the FSF's reaction will be "I told you so."
But as you say, who cares what the FSF has to say about it? They're not even involved. The GPL is covered by copyright law, not FSF law, which doesn't exist, so the FSF is irrelevant. The question is not whether the GPL applies in this situation, because clearly if he did not have the right to put the GPL on the code, then the code is not really GPL. (If you don't hold the copyright, you can't reassign it.) If he DID have the right to make the release, then the GPL certainly applies.
If you want to get a useful opinion from someone on this issue, talk to the EFF, because they're the only cavalry you can expect (hope) will come to the rescue if you are sued for doing something with the WASTE sources. Or at this point, possibly VIA, if you are a VIA customer using their release, though I sincerely doubt that they'd step in on your behalf.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This is just a guess, but I bet the "22609" is the process ID of the padlocksl script. Sounds like a syntax error or something on line 3 is causing it to abort execution.
In post-9/11 America, the CIA interrogates YOU!
Waste runs under wine, but there are a lot of annoying issues, and the port seems dead in the water.
... and WASTE was one of my motivating reasons for buying it. If WASTE is important enough to you, I'd recommend Win4Lin. And you get the addeded benefit of being able to do other Windows things. (Kaaza [though giFT works well enough for me most of the time], and whatever other Windows things you need.) The only "problem" with Win4Lin is that at this point in time it's Win95/98/98SE/ME only. However - if your programs will operate under Win98SE (WASTE will), then it's actually an advantage due to lower resource requirements.
I bought Win4Lin
I downloaded this PadLockSL but I'm not really impressed with it. The GUI looks "broken" in several places. Text doesn't line up correctly over the buttons and things of that nature. And it doesn't connect with our WASTE network anyway.