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Google Open Sources Etherpad, Piratepad Launches

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the fair-play dept.

Thomas Nybergh writes "The Etherpad code was released by Google under the Apache license a few hours ago. Google's initial plan, after acquiring the service, was to use Etherpad's tech with its new Wave collaboration platform and to shut down the original service entirely. Soon after the Etherpad code was released, the Swedish Pirate Party launched their instance of the service at piratepad.net. An announcement, which also mentions a new Tor node, is published on the party website (Google translation). The original Etherpad service had in a short time become a killer application for collaborative work within at least the Swedish, and according to my personal experience, in the Finnish Pirate Party as well. The Etherpad open source project is available at Google Code."

14 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. For the unititiated... by julesh · · Score: 5, Informative

    there's a reasonable explanation of what it is on the home page.

    To the submitter, please include a link that explains what you're talking about next time.

    1. Re:For the unititiated... by Alef · · Score: 4, Informative

      Another little detail of information, in case anyone reads the links that are included in the summary:

      I noticed that Google Translate writes the last couple of sentences of the news release as:
      "PiratePad is freely available to all users. The party will save any logs from the service."
      What it actually says in Swedish is:
      "PiratePad is freely available to all users. The party will not save any logs from the service."

  2. Pretty awesome by NoTheory · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Happy to see a Google acquisition which has not entirely abandoned their existing userbase, as they are assimilated. The company i work for has picked up using etherpads here and there, and was intending on doing so further, until the acquisition. I guess we'll probably give the code base a run, and try installing an internal copy :) Rock on Etherpad & Google guys.

    --
    There are lives at stake here!
    1. Re:Pretty awesome by ilovegeorgebush · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I was just thinking about how this is Google's answer to "acquire and assimilate" business practices. When Oracle or Microsoft do it it's murder, but when Google do it they Open Source the product then abandon the original.

      Is this better?

      --
      ilovegeorgebush
  3. EtherPad makes Google Wave look even worse by Robotech_Master · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Small wonder they wanted to acquire AppJet to send its programmers to the Google Wave slave mines to make Wave work more like EtherPad. I'm tickled pink they went through with their pledge to open-source it, and did it so quickly.

    Isn't it amazing? This is the code that was AppJet's entire revenue stream...and after Google bought them for ten million dollars, they're giving all that work away to the community, free.

    You can argue all you want about whether Google is really evil or not, but either way it certainly has its non-evil moments.

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
    1. Re:EtherPad makes Google Wave look even worse by WGFCrafty · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do you fear accepting gifts from friends due to their extraordinarily elaborate subconscious ploy to undermine and ultimately control you?

      Be afraid.

    2. Re:EtherPad makes Google Wave look even worse by TheCowSaysMooNotBoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, but I do from stores who collect my private data every time I shop there.

    3. Re:EtherPad makes Google Wave look even worse by Robotech_Master · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I really do think that this was the best thing that could possibly have happened to EtherPad. While it was still closed-source, it was locked up in the hands of one company. There was always the risk it could go away for good. (As very nearly happened right after Google bought them.) It's possible they might even have used the patent they claimed was "pending" to stifle competition if someone created a similar app from scratch.

      But now it belongs to all of us, and anyone with the expertise to set it up can run a pad server for his own writing circle or for the world. People might even hack in new features and share them, like that Wave Federation thing Iba mentioned in the blog post.

      But even if EtherPad's codebase stays the same forever, it's ours now and we can use it however we want.

      --
      Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  4. A hint as to buy-out reasoning. by stimpleton · · Score: 4, Informative

    Etherpad is httpRequest javascript in a wysiwig which allowes collaborative editing in real time on a text doc with some rich text. My opinion is its a chat window where you type in the area the chat appears.

    In a screenshot on their page is the example text "...Etherpads patent-pending sychronization algorithm makes sure everyones edits are merged in realtime".

    I would see Gmail's live chat feature being quite close in concept. I wonder if Etherpad extended an open palm and inquired about renumeration.

    --

    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
  5. Etherpad Wiki? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What about using EtherPad for Wikis? Seems the perfect match: The learning curve is lower than for current Wiki markup (and ease of editing was one point of Wikis, after all), the history function is already included, and since it's now Open Source, the missing functionality (especially Wiki links) could easily be added.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  6. Re:Wow! This blows me away. by lattyware · · Score: 4, Informative

    As far as I am aware, the plan is to make Wave an open protocol, where it can be completely isolated from anything Google by running your own stuff.

    --
    -- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
  7. Excellent Summary by glwtta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just have one tiny question after reading it: What the fuck is Etherpad?

    --
    sic transit gloria mundi
  8. Huh? How is this better than wave... ? by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You realize don't you that Google Wave is both open source AND open protocol?

    It is federated like Jabber, anyone who wants to can download the wave source code and run their own wave server. And because it is federated, your server is not a walled garden - you can still join waves hosted on OTHER servers.

    Seems far superior to this Etherpad in every sense of the word.

    1. Re:Huh? How is this better than wave... ? by D+Ninja · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Seems far superior to this Etherpad in every sense of the word.

      Technically speaking, Wave is superior (I've used both). However, what makes Etherpad so popular is that it is easier to use. As of this time, Wave is still in Alpha mode, and while I get it, many tech friends who have tried to use it really don't understand the applicability of the software. They don't see it as a much better way to collaborate. They still want to stick to traditional e-mail for organization (which I hate, particularly when conversation threading and search is not available in e-mail).

      So, Wave = Technically Stronger; Etherpad = Usability is Stronger. Add the good parts of the two together, and you get a much better project overall.