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How To Kill an Open Source Project With New Funding

mir42 writes "The OpenSource multimedia authorware project Sophie, formerly hosted by USC Los Angeles, may just have been killed by new funding. The original funding organization, Mellon Foundation, approved a grant to redevelop the four year project from scratch in Java. The grant was awarded to a Bulgarian company based on their proposal, which is simply an exact description, including the UI and the artwork, of the current Sophie. Being an OpenSource project, this isn't strictly illegal, but let's say, not nice and definitely not innovative, coming from a former sub-sub-contractor on the project. Some of the original, now laid-off developers started OpenSophie.org trying to salvage the project. As the current version is still somewhat buggy and slow, it might just be enough to alienate all potential users of Sophie to the point that nobody will even try to use the next version. Have others faced similar situations? How would you deal with a situation like this?"

4 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hang on a sec... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Let's get this straight, your objecting to being used to queue up and hammer an open Sophie yet your first in line? Well stiffen up, you know the old line, you have to lead, follow or get out of the way. :P

  2. You are wrong. WRONG! Wrong, I say! by multipartmixed · · Score: 0, Troll

    It wasn't thinly veiled at all. Yeesh.

    This is basically astroturfing.

    No, wait. *coins new term*

    This is bashtroturfing !

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    Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
  3. Re:funding killed my project by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'll believe you when I see your slashdot account published on the website. And even then, I really don't know if you just squatted the domain and kept the site for yourself. Heck, how do I know you weren't a shill from the beginning?

  4. Re:"redevelop from scratch in Java" by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 0, Troll

    Touche, but I would much sooner learn SmallTalk than go through the pain of attempting Java again.

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    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!