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CherryOS Not All It's Cracked Up To Be
CherryBS continues "PearPC developers who have seen CherryOS have confirmed it is a fraud, while others remaining anonymous have posted the 'strings' output that CherryOS and PearPC share, showing many function names, warning/informational message strings that exist verbatim in PearPC. Additionally, now-pulled screenshots of CherryOS, mirrored in the long thread at pearpc.net, show CherryOS's boot process revealing variable names and missing or incorrectly emulated hardware in such a way as to be specific to PearPC. Arben Kryeziu, the developer of CherryOS, claims that no code has been taken from PearPC whatsoever, and that he will release a trial version this week. However, with the amount of deception on the part of the company, and considering this wouldn't be the first time he's violated the GPL, it's hard to believe they're telling the truth. Additionally, Kryeziu now claims the "trial" may "disable modules like sound or drag and drop"...likely because PearPC itself does not support such features. To further add to the tale, someone who was likely Arben was specifically asking for video server load testing for their vx30.com video codec/server product, even specifically mentioning slashdot as a great candidate, and in the days following the CherryOS story unfolding, went back and deleted the posts. The first day, all that was left online were two videos, one of which was subsequently removed because of PearPC-specific strings in the boot process shown in the video..."
while IANAL, is this necessarily illegal?? if he makes the source code for pearpc downloadable/packaged with with cherry and acknowlodges somewhere in the eula that its pearpc rebranded than while he has morally been an asshole he hasnt violated the gpl, has he?
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
You know, it's one thing for a corporate guy to think that he can get away with this. It's quite another for an open source developer to pilfer and another open source developer's code, release his "modifications" online and claim it's his. The CherryOS guy(s) better watch out, they may find themselves next in line for a darwin award for being that stupid.
I mean seriously... this is about as bright as murdering your neighbor in your front lawn in the middle of the day and stretching their corpse out on a lawn chair in your yard while you cut the grass...
Click here or a puppy gets stomped!
Sebastian Ballas, PearPC's lead developer, said a screenshot of CherryOS shows a variable named "SPIRO MULTIMAX 3000," a nonsensical term Ballas claims to have invented for use in PearPC.
"It is absolutely unlikely that someone uses exactly this name for the same purpose," he said. "The way he (Kryeziu) is lying is making me angry."
When told that variables with the same names had been found in both CherryOS and PearPC, Kryeziu said programming logic often leads to variables and functions with similar, or identical, names.
"There are some functionalities that can only be done a certain way," he said. "Names are going to be similar or identical because there are only certain ways to do things."
BUAHAHHAHAAHHAHHAHA
to the ripoff were so overwhelming, that its amazing they managed to scam so many news organizations. From almost identical function key hints in the title bar, to similar boot strings to the ridiculous idea of someone "getting tired of carrying two laptops" and writing CherryOS as a work-around, can anyone, really, truly be surprised?
I did an article on my jackwhispers website about this.
I was one of the first to point this out and MANY of the PearPC forums respondents replied to me in email and told me about all the links within this article. (One of them is quite startling - about Arben having downloaded PearPC)
There are a few other insights at the link above.
Sorry to whore my own site, but I almost think it should be linked here too because I added a little political UNcorrectness to the mix.
Why the Cherry or The Pear May Be Apple's Next Lemon
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
- Hubert
On another note, it appears he's trying for an SCO style attack, where he repeats things so many times that people start to think that it must be true... and he's probably counting on the PearPC folks not having enough money to fight him in court. That's if he's actually planning to release his modified copy, to anyone but the press, which is also in question.
knowing a bit about PPC/x86 code translation and cross-platform emulation, and also knowing others who are currently working on many emulation projects, I can safely say that 80% performance is pretty much impossible in what he is doing. First off, you have little-endian vs. big endian architectures to deal with; then you have to also factor in OS overhead, memory management translation, processor-unique opcodes that must have their logic translated to a different meme, incompatible register types, etc. The PearPC guys did an excellent job of overcoming all these hurdles, but as anyone who has used PearPC knows, routing around the obstacles comes with a massive performance hit. If he said that CherryOS took an 80% performance hit and that a technology beta was going to be released soon, he would at least be talking in the realms of remote possibility.
I hope he likes bartending, or that the poor fool whose name he's possibly been using finds out what he's been up to before it is too late.
Does anyone else some how find that his VX30 might be a rip off of the ogg theora java port. The fact that its listed on this site, right next to the java port of ogg theora is fishy..
I used to work for a company that violated the license of an open source piece of software. They stole the code verbatim and I didn't realize this until I had left the company and was searching for an open source alternative to their software. I stumbled across the open source version and though "Hey, they use the same variable and function names as us...hey, they use the same headers...hey, they use the same conversion arrays...hey, we stole their product!"
Unfortunately, they are making millions of dollars off of this open source software and the original author isn't seeing a penny. I feel bad, but I am one of two people who actually saw the source code (the other being the owner of the company).
If I said anything the company would instantly know who snitched on them and I'm not going to deal with those repurcussions.
They kept good tabs on making sure no one else could figure out they stole open source code and they continue to make large amounts of money on it today. So yes, not everyone is as clumsy as this person is.
I kept quite and tell people anonymously because I feel bad, rather than not telling anyone at all. And if I did tell someone my previous company had no problems with sueing people for any reason. But I'll take your advice about the FSF and try to contact them about it.
.Net. I'm not sure how comparisons can be made across platforms like that since dll symbols well...didn't exist in the original application.
Problem is the original source was for unix x-windows and the company I worked for ported it to windows for ActiveX and
Specks
Batteries not included
So, we're all up in arms because some guy stole GPL code (note the use of the word "taken" and "stole" used throughout the article and discussion).
Probably because the person involved is a commercial pirate. In other words they are selling someone elses copyrighted work without permission.
And yet, this attitude magically disappears in an MP3 or movie piracy article? Suddenly, THAT kind of piracy isn't "theft?"
Typically these copies are not being sold.
Honestly, what's the difference? In both cases, someone else's copyrighted materials are taken and used for their own purposes.
the difference between pure copyright infringement and copyright infringement plus making money from the infringement.