CherryOS Not All It's Cracked Up To Be

CherryBS writes "The CherryOS emulator, claiming that it could seamlessly run Mac OS X at 80% the speed of the host computer on standard x86 hardware (covered here previously), has created some controversy about stolen code. It turns out that CherryOS's emulation engine is nothing more than that of PearPC, an open source GPL project to create a PowerPC motheboard emulator." Read on for more details.

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..."

Comments

legality

[Anubis350]

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?

Choice Quote

[dhoonlee]

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

Re:What a moron

[PedanticSpellingTrol]

This gets a little offtopic, but I'm suprised those guys that made an adware ripoff of GAIM haven't gotten more attention.

Link

Check out this article on him

[Anonymous Coward]

Technology with Aloha, some how I find that he is not quite the genius that everyone makes him out to be. He single handly, by himself, created his own video/audio codecs.

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..

Re:Stupidity

[Valdar729]

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.

There's more than one way to name a variable

[Specks]

Wired - 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 (Arben) said. "Names are going to be similar or identical because there are only certain ways to do things."

Arben should be in politics. He went around that accusation with the deftness of a Senator. There's more than one way to name a variable and its doubtfull that he could have come up with the same "nonsensical" term as Ballas did for the same thing. This alone makes it obvious that the code in CherryOS was taken from PearOS. Now that Arben has been alerted to the fact that everyone knows he'll probably chenge the names of the functions. It's easy for someone to change the function names in a program, its called search and replace.