>finish my PhD, a bit fed up with academia so start looking for industry job >interview for a position in a company which produces software related to my field >ace interview, it comes up that I'm the original developer and maintainer of a tool they "use extensively" which gets the leader of the team I'm joining very excited >join in the first week of March, so far so good >try to familiarise myself with the code base of their core product (commercial desktop application) >turns out it's basically a Java wrapper around two open source tools, one of which I've developed (and maintain in my free time), and both of which are GPL licensed
A wrapper does not modify the existing source code, only interface to it, therefore it’s not in true violation. Also that’s how kernel modules can be proprietary in the Linux kernel.
Lucas Evans
Ali? Is that you?
Colton Carter
Dont mention this at work, I'm serious.
Jackson Davis
They distribute binaries of my code as part of their application though. My tool is a command line application written in C. They compile part of it and bind that via JNI in the closed-source application they sell.
The two funny things here are: 1) All of the GPL code they use is portable (as is Java itself) but their product is Windows only due to depending on those binaries. 2) Since I worked in the field I was really curious about how the professionals do it; turns out professionals do a shitty Java GUI wrapper around my code.
Josiah Robinson
Actually it's a maths PhD. Didn't get 300k starting but still more than doubled my postdoc salary...
Jayden Richardson
make threads calling who defends open source, cucks.
Companies are immoral scumbags, but lawyers are way worse. Try selling them a non-GPL version.
Luke Powell
If you mention this I will fucking kill you you faggot nigger fuck you don't mention this at work you fucker I am fucking telling you I am warning you don't fucking say anything or else
I'm not kidding, I hope you understand, you didn't even read this thread. got it? I fucking swear
Jack Clark
Idk if you could get much money out of them for being GPL violators, you could ask a lawyer about it. It's probably safer to just wageslave for them then try a lawsuit.
Logan King
>the virgin: study until 35 works for free on open source no job the chad: copy/paste whatever code spaghetti java until works make millions
Lucas Martinez
15000 *2 30k is ALOT of clams there OP!
Joseph Hill
Do continue op.
Ian Robinson
I was on £35k as a research fellow and got £75k PA now (which is less than double post-tax). Pretty comfy for a non-London position.
Lucas Wright
Well sue them if you wish. It’s not like there are the FSF police to go to about the situation. But it depends if you wanna be known as the guy who burned a company. Then again, the moral ground is never the easiest.
Also why the fuck would they hire the owner of the library they are ripping, the story is either fabricated or the company is absolutely stupid.
Adam Russell
>£75k PA How
Andrew Wright
Make it very clear that you're going to be quite a big shareholder from now on and will be expecting a significant raise and senior position.
I don't want to sue them, I was thinking of e.g. double licensing and maybe how to raise the issue with my manager. Also sharing my disappointment of the state of proprietary code when it's just a £2000 wrapper for open source code.
Levi Price
"Break" the original version "accidentally" with an update.
Release a second version with a paid license that fixes the bug.
Evan Robinson
>or the company is absolutely stupid I genuinely think they're ignorant of the ramifications, it's not a big company.
Brody Sullivan
They are pretty stupid for hiring you. What did they expect? That you never find out?
Anthony Parker
If they have the current source you can not break that. Even if you commit buggy code they don't have to clone that.
Blake Stewart
kek
Samuel Kelly
Sue them
Owen Gray
This Then countersue as the company employee You win either way
Asher Baker
Aren't aware vs don't give a shit
Robert Nguyen
>Ali? print this thread out, archive it, and bring it up. fuck pakis
>I was really curious about how the professionals do it; turns out professionals do a shitty Java GUI wrapper around my code. this has also been my experience
Gavin Phillips
>it's just a £2000 wrapper for open source code. You know all those people you see driving expensive new BMWs/Mercs/Audis, have you ever wondered why it is they have so much money and how they made it?
Most money made through large amounts is achieved through exploitation and ripping off people.
The world is just a shitty place full of shitty people.
Anthony Barnes
Get some genuine legal advice.
Jonathan Watson
Are there no tools to convert C to Java? Also there going to be a performance cost isn't there.
Joseph Adams
>You know all those people you see driving expensive new BMWs/Mercs/Audis, have you ever wondered why it is they have so much money and how they made it? most of them are nigger rich
Nathaniel Parker
Binding a native binary will be faster than Java.
Isaiah Flores
There it is! The only nonretarded response in the thread!
Owen Gray
This implies that what you just said is retarded.
Mason Martin
Binding with what though?
I presume they chose Java for platform portability.
Nicholas Moore
a genuine lawyer will laugh at thinking anyone cares about the GPL
Dylan Lewis
Dude if you have reason and evidence to sue them you should do it. Fuck them they're profiting from your work
Jayden Rivera
Not unless you assume I am a toe sucking GNUs Not Ouroborous. I am not.
>talk to manager Yeah no kiddo, I thought you were a PhD. The moment they realize you can burn them, the moment they can let you go and you don’t have proof. People are understanding, companies can be exploitive - the world of academia is marching forward to accumulate knowledge while the private sector is about concealing the truth to sell the better product. The other anons are right - get legal advice before continuing with any decision. Don’t get a door slammed in your face cause you thought they would play nice.
Grayson Mitchell
The value is mainly in the mathematics you have developed, then there is value in your source code that implements the mathematical concepts that you developed.
Is that mathematics available in a publicly available paper? Hypothetically, if you did have such a paper and someone wrote software and sold it what would your view be then? Also, what if someone lifted the mathematical value out of your GPL source code and wrote their own and did the same as I just mentioned in the previous question?
It would be too easy to identify if I gave any specifics, I don't want to get doxxed.
There is a paper out but it's been quite a faff to get it all implemented and working properly on real data and to wrangle the formats used into a form usable by the algorithm, disentangling various issues (existing software and data sets don't actually follow format specifications in a few important areas which had significant ramifications for the algorithm) etc.. There' are 16k lines of code in my project and they're all there for a reason. The company uses most of it except for my command line interface.
Hunter Myers
>(existing software and data sets don't actually follow format specifications in a few important areas which had significant ramifications for the algorithm) The reads like a common software engineering issue, it's complexity likely depends on how much mathematical knowledge is actually required to solve this. You may see this as mathematical problem, a software engineer may disagree.
Michael Butler
Just work for them instead of trying to jew them, since GPL is not commercial you wouldn't get any money out of a lawsuit. Make them a linux version or something
Jeremiah Baker
>trying to help OP get a job instead of being blackballed for suing his employer
Caleb Sanders
>the world of academia is marching forward to accumulate knowledge lol
>the world of academia is marching forward to accumulate knowledge the world of academia is publishing fake data in their desperate quest for more grant money
Kevin Flores
hehehehe
Anthony Gonzalez
He can just go back to academia.
Jaxson Reyes
Make an update that breaks their current system. Then take a month "to circumvent" the update and make it work for them. All the while you get paid... that should be good enough?!
Blake Carter
>>turns out it's basically a Java wrapper around two open source tools, one of which I've developed (and maintain in my free time), and both of which are GPL licensed So, the usual then. Welcome to industry.
Angel James
Put them out of business by creating a GPL wrapper around your code and the other open source tool
Blackmail the managers into giving you a ridiculous salary for literally 0 work under the threat of suing them.
Grayson Green
If they use the command line interface. then they are fine, if they directly use the functions of the program then they would have to GPL the wrapper and the wrapper then must implement an interace for the core program to use and must be delivered separatly as an plugin.
Nathaniel Sanchez
My sides have ascended to a higher being. Include me in the screencap.
