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China's 'First Fully Homegrown' Web Browser, Used By Key Government Bodies, Under Fire For 'Heavily' Copying Google Chrome Files (ft.com)
Redcore, a Chinese start-up that claims to have produced a homegrown browser used by key government bodies and state-run companies, has come under fire after users discovered its software was heavily based on Google's Chrome browser [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From a report: The company, which says it has created "innovative and world-leading" browser technology, came under scrutiny on Thursday when users looked through the browser's installation directory and discovered an original "chrome.exe" file along with image files of the Chrome logo. "We have launched the world's only purely China-owned browser Redcore, to break the US monopoly," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The Financial Times verified Chinese users' findings and found with its own examination that Redcore was using components from the v. 49 version of Google Chrome. "Redcore has Chrome [elements] in it," said company founder Gao Jing in response to fierce public criticism. "But this is not plagiarism; rather, we are standing on the shoulders of a giant for our own innovation," she added, according to local media reports. Ms Gao was also quoted as saying that the company had so far been doing very well in terms of customer satisfaction.
they sure do copy a lot over there
do they ever really innovate? I mean in the last 800 years
Any danger of getting even the basic facts right?
"But this is not plagiarism; rather, we are standing on the shoulders of a giant for our own innovation," she added, according to local media reports. Ms Gao was also quoted as saying that the company had so far been doing very well in terms of customer satisfaction.
Not plagiarism? Well, that's technically correct. This would be corporate espionage at worst and copyright/trademark infringement at best. But let's leave that aside and wonder why they weren't satisfied with grabbing and using Chromium, the open source project Chrome is largely based on. I'm certain they have the technical expertise to compile and create a distribution package. That shouldn't be a high hurdle to jump, so it come back to why?
Maybe it's a political statement to Google who is trying to get back into the mainland Chinese market? We can take your & call it our own, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Also, the last bit about customer satisfaction? Is the article just weird about what questions were asked because that really feels like it came out of no where.
Internet Explorer licenced Mosaic from spyglass.
licensed
Chrome came from webkit which came from KDE's khtml
And Chrome is commercial software unlike Webkit and KHTML. The updated open source parts are available in Chromium, which this company could easily have used but didn't.
they sure do copy a lot over there
Yes they do and there is some good money in it too. But to be fair there is more than a little of it over here too.
do they ever really innovate? I mean in the last 800 years
Yes. Quite a lot actually. Sure there is a robust amounts of counterfeiting and knock off products but plenty of original work too. People used to think Japan produced nothing but crappy knockoffs too back in the 1950s and there were legitimate reasons to think that but over time it changes as the economy develops.
Need evidence of innovation? You're looking at it right now. The majority of electronics come from China and/or Taiwan. Much of this was developed by local talent without copying designs from elsewhere. Companies in every country engage in a certain amount of copying of works done elsewhere. The US and Europe are no exceptions.
Firefox had to change its name twice from Firebird and Phoenix.
How is this copying the product? They picked a name for it and needed to change it because they didn't know it was already taken. Has nothing to do with the product itself.
True innovation is coming up with something that doesn't exist, isn't even an idea, and making it happen. Making a new browser, even if the Chinese didn't steal code from Chrome, is not innovation. It's attempted improvement.
Improvement looks at what everyone else is doing and tries something different, while "standing on the shoulders of the giant". No original thought.
The reasons any tech is in China is for cheap labor and loose environmental standards. I've worked in tech and with the Chinese. We had to QC all of their work. Which was funny since they were hired to do QC.
"But this is not plagiarism; rather, we are standing on the shoulders of a giant for our own innovation," she added, according to local media reports. Ms Gao was also quoted as saying that the company had so far been doing very well in terms of customer satisfaction.
Not plagiarism? Well, that's technically correct.
Well, it technically is plagiarism, albeit not in the traditional domain of interpersonal communication. If code can be copyrighted, then it can be plagiarized.
This would be corporate espionage at worst and copyright/trademark infringement at best. But let's leave that aside and wonder why they weren't satisfied with grabbing and using Chromium, the open source project Chrome is largely based on. I'm certain they have the technical expertise to compile and create a distribution package. That shouldn't be a high hurdle to jump, so it come back to why?
This is a good point. I think the answer is obvious. There was never an intent to distribute this code outside of China. Hence, there were no worries about legal ramifications outside of China. The Chinese government views the use of "standing on the shoulders of a giant for our own innovation" via direct copying and appropriating of technology as a tactic that furthers the national interest. It's not just that the Chinese government would refuse to prosecute such technology transfer that is illegal under Western laws, it openly supports, encourages, and through various Chinese laws mandates such transfers as the cost of doing business in China.
Also, if Google is willing to hold it's nose as it plays by Chinese rules in enforcing censorship and surveillance, it obviously wouldn't complain about this type of IP theft. I suppose in a sense, the Chinese government has effectively purchased a license to use this software, with payment rendered in the form of potential Chinese ad revenue.
True innovation is coming up with something that doesn't exist, isn't even an idea, and making it happen.
Ahh the no true Scotsman fallacy.
Improvement looks at what everyone else is doing and tries something different, while "standing on the shoulders of the giant". No original thought.
So you are saying Issac Newton didn't have an original thought. Might want to go back and revisit that line of logic. NOBODY has ideas that don't build on the work of others. If you think you are the only person to have an idea then you are delusional. If your standard for "true innovation" is a thought or product nobody else had considered previously then there is no such thing as "true innovation". Your argument is complete nonsense.
The reasons any tech is in China is for cheap labor and loose environmental standards
There are a LOT of reasons why a lot of electronics and other tech are made in China. You mentioned two factors but they aren't the only ones nor the most important ones in a lot of cases.
I've worked in tech and with the Chinese. We had to QC all of their work.
I've been to China, worked in global sourcing, and source products from there daily in my day job most of which are just fine. China produces massive amounts of high quality good and services. Yes there is some junk too but your sweeping claims about the quality of work from China is demonstrably false. Sounds like your company hired the wrong people or didn't have the experience to manage them properly. Happens to a lot of companies. Doesn't mean that everything from China is shit.
Wow, China ripping off everyone else and calling 'their innovation'? Nah, that's just crazy talk!