Google Yanks Several Emulators From App Store 190
PC Magazine reports that the "-oid" family of emulators from developer Yong Zhang (better known as yongzh) has been pulled from Google's Android Market. These include Nesoid, Snesoid, and Gameboid. From the article: "So what got Zhang the boot? Or, rather, who? Neither Zhang nor Google have commented on the primary source of the complaints against the developer's emulator apps. While most speculate that one of the Big Three are behind the purge–Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft–there's also speculation that Zhang allegedly violated the open source licenses for projects that parts of his programs were derived from." A piece at Android Police has further mention and some more background on the legal position of emulator software.
Re:sleezeball (Score:4, Insightful)
So what you're saying is that OSS is a poisoned chalice that anyone who wants to make money or a career for themselves in software development shouldn't touch with a 12 foot barge pole?
No, I didn't think so.
You seem to think that commercial interest and OSS are exclusive to one another. Where do the major OSS licences forbid you making money?
In this case, if he was using code released specifically under a non-commercial licence then clearly it would explain why his software has been pulled, but your rant smacks of a much broader chip on your shoulder that you think it's immoral to sell OSS software for money, or otherwise generate income from OSS software.
Somewhat Obvious Who Had It Pulled (Score:5, Insightful)
"While most speculate that one of the Big Three are behind the purge–Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft"
Why even speculate which of the Big Three it was? The emulators were for:
- Nintendo SNES
- Nintendo Gameboy
- Nintendo NES
- Nintendo N64
Call me crazy, but if it wasn't pulled because of licensing issues, shouldn't it be obvious who would of had the beef with this guy?
Re:sleezeball (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:sleezeball (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:sleezeball (Score:2, Insightful)
RedHat has contributed so much critical code that it's not even remotely comparable.
On a side note, it's always amusing to see RedHat and Novell get shit on constantly on this site. They've contributed so much critical code that Linux would almost definitely be completely irrelevant if it weren't for them. Perennial Slashdot favorites Debian and Ubuntu don't contribute nearly as much, and in terms of contributions to core infrastructure projects (Linux kernel, Xorg, Alsa, Gnome, Firefox etc.) Debian and Ubuntu developers are barely even a blip on the radar.
Re:sleezeball (Score:2, Insightful)
I think the most immediate thing that goes through many, essentially non-programmers' minds is the idea that;
"If I release all of the source code to my application, what is to stop somebody else from forking my project, replacing any copyrighted assets with free ones, and distributing a compiled binary to consumers as a competing, free product?"
If someone could concisely explain why this fear is unfounded in a few sentences, this could become something that people quote to back up FOSS in arguments such as these. Anyone?
Re:sleezeball (Score:5, Insightful)
Snes9x homepage: http://www.snes9x.com/ [snes9x.com]
Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute Snes9x in both binary and source form, for non-commercial purposes, is hereby granted without fee, providing that this license information and copyright notice appear with all copies and any derived work.
This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event shall the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.
Snes9x is freeware for PERSONAL USE only. Commercial users should seek permission of the copyright holders first. Commercial use includes charging money for Snes9x or software derived from Snes9x.
The copyright holders request that bug fixes and improvements to the code should be forwarded to them so everyone can benefit from the modifications in future versions.
Super NES and Super Nintendo Entertainment System are trademarks of Nintendo Co., Limited and its subsidiary companies.
Those two licences don't apply here.