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Is Showmypc.com an Open Source Pretender?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the show-us-the-source dept.

shaitand writes "When looking for a remote support application that penetrates firewalls and can be initiated by my clients with a couple of clicks, I came across Showmypc.com. It was a standalone executable but looked like it would work and best of all it was open source. The only thing I didn't like was the interface, so I went to check out the Sourceforge page. I noticed a substantial problem: CVS is empty and the source on the download page is for the 2.6 version. The version of the executable is 3.53. I mailed the developers that they needed to distribute their modified SSH client and VNC source to be in compliance with the GPL license. They said they didn't modify those programs and ignored my request for the current source code. So I ask again, if this is a GPL'ed application; where is the source?"

4 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. REport em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    did you report them to SourceForge?

  2. Re:You missed the obvious joke... by Divebus · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Right on their front page: "It started as an open source Desktop Sharing and Remote PC access project..."

    And then what happened?

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  3. Re:Off-topic, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ah, another piece of commercial, proprietary software derived from VNC.
    ...And from the unpaid, or underpaid, work of interns acquired through spamming. From the FAQ:

    How long did Fog Creek Copilot take to write?
    The three programming interns wrote the beta version of Fog Creek Copilot in under two months.

    [...]

    How were the four interns selected for this project?
    Internship postings were made to the Fog Creek software website, www.FogCreek.com as well as to CEO Joel Spolsky's blog, www.JoelonSoftware.com. Fog Creek Software also mailed applications to hundreds of students at top universities. The posts sought out those enrolled in a four year academic institution with preference to those between Junior and Senior year with top grades, a track record of success, top notch computer programming skills for the Software Development Interns, and coursework in marketing or business experience as well as programming experience for the Software Marketing Intern. 800 students from top universities applied and 4 were chosen.

    From the FAQ. (emphasis added).
  4. Re:Why not? by Skreems · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That doesn't seem true at all. Plenty of OSS programs out there release a GPL version for non-commercial uses, and a pay version under a proprietary and for-pay licensing scheme. That would definitely violate the GPL if they didn't own the copyrights on the code, but they're not "losing moral standing in the community" just because they found a way to finance their project.

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