Re: TuxRacer goes closed source

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

Mads Bondo Dydensborg wrote:
> 
> http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-08-02-011-20-NW-GM
> 
> My comment: Argh! Couldn't they have said so 6 monts ago, so we could have
> forked the codebase. As it is now, progress on TuxRacer - the Open Version
> - has completly stalled.
> 
> Jasmin, you could have let us know a long time ago....
> 
> When that is said; I have nothing against closed source games. This is
> just a weird situation, and a bit frustrating. The good thing is that at
> least we now know where we stand, and can start maintaining TuxRacer (if
> we so wish). Hopefully it will get rolling again.

There is a LOT of misinformation floating around - rumors that there
will initially only be a Windoze version - rumors that maybe it'll be
returned to OpenSource after some time...all sorts of random stories.

I think we deserve a clear statement of what's going on.


Now, IANAL - but *IF* these rumors are true:

  * Patches have been presented and accepted from non-SunSpire people.
    That's clearly explained in the AUTHORS file of 0.61.

    Those patches are GPL'ed - they have to be because it's contrary to
    the GPL to distribute modifications of a GPL'ed package without those
    mods also being under GPL.

    So SunSpire either have to obtain the copyright from every single one
    of the people who have code in TuxRacer - or remove those patches
    *before* closing the sources.  Where is the evidence that this has
    been done?

  * I'm told (but maybe it's another of those wild rumors) that Jasmin
    owns the name "TuxRacer" as a registered trademark.  Does that mean that
    the GPL'ed version now has to change it's name?  Well, I don't think
    so because the name is everywhere in the GPL'ed sources.  Hence, I
    maintain that the GPL'ed version (which should certainly continue to
    be developed IMHO) should be called TuxRacer and that therefore the
    commercial version should come up with a different name in order to
    eliminate potential confusion.

I'm VERY disappointed about this - although I didn't contribute code
to TuxRacer, I did contribute a heck of a lot of advice and suggestions
and helped out numerous people in getting TuxRacer running on their
systems.

I now feel that I was made to do that under the false pretense that I
was helping out an OpenSourced product - when in fact, I was training
employees of a company from which I get no return.

Since my professional consultancy services normally go for between
$100 and $200 an hour this does not make me terribly happy.

I don't know how the people at SunSpire can live with themselves.

I have nothing against commercial software - but a bunch of talented people
like the guys at SunSpire could easily have come up with a new game idea and
started over from scratch with it rather than hijacking TuxRacer - to the
evident annoyance of much of the OpenSource community.

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
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