2008-11-18, 11:14 PM
2008-11-18, 11:57 PM
They can remove the copyright now with GNU/GPL. They just won't receive support.
2008-11-19, 12:34 AM
That's pretty cheap of them to do that. That's the only thing I hate about GNU/GPL.
2008-11-19, 12:41 AM
What's a GNU/GPL?
2008-11-19, 01:05 AM
The only thing cheap about it is that they changed it to say "Powered By BryanSoftBB" as if it was their own work. That's definitely not a nice thing to do.
Personally I hate software that forces tons of copyright notices on to you... MyBB (+plugins) take this so far that it almost seems like a sickness, the standard copyright note does not contain only one, but two backlinks, then the German translation adds its own backlink, then there are several plugin that add their own backlinks, if you leave it like this, with a full install you end up with a footer plastered with copyright notices and backlinks and it just looks ugly.
I'm thinking of toning this down a lot - i.e. reduce it to one single backlink on index.php and simply not use any plugins that are not released under an open license or that force additional copyright notices on to you.
Think about what pages would look like if every single piece of software involved added their backlink to every page. Not only would there be backlinks to MyBB and the homepage of every developer or translator involved, there would also be additional links to the project pages of PHP, Apache, MySQL, Linux, various JavaScript libraries that MyBB uses, etc. etc. with every reasonably complex piece of software there are so many other software components involved that you don't have enough fingers to count.
You have to put a stop to it somewhere and just realize that not mentioning every piece of software involved does not mean that I don't respect or appreciate the work that others put into it. I prefer to express appreciation in other ways, e.g. by reporting bugs or providing patches (even if the quality of those is limited by my ability), or writing plugins myself and releasing them under an open source license without requiring anyone to put additional copyright notices to their pages, or simply by telling others that I'm using this or that piece of software and that I think it's worth a try.
Personally I hate software that forces tons of copyright notices on to you... MyBB (+plugins) take this so far that it almost seems like a sickness, the standard copyright note does not contain only one, but two backlinks, then the German translation adds its own backlink, then there are several plugin that add their own backlinks, if you leave it like this, with a full install you end up with a footer plastered with copyright notices and backlinks and it just looks ugly.
I'm thinking of toning this down a lot - i.e. reduce it to one single backlink on index.php and simply not use any plugins that are not released under an open license or that force additional copyright notices on to you.
Think about what pages would look like if every single piece of software involved added their backlink to every page. Not only would there be backlinks to MyBB and the homepage of every developer or translator involved, there would also be additional links to the project pages of PHP, Apache, MySQL, Linux, various JavaScript libraries that MyBB uses, etc. etc. with every reasonably complex piece of software there are so many other software components involved that you don't have enough fingers to count.
You have to put a stop to it somewhere and just realize that not mentioning every piece of software involved does not mean that I don't respect or appreciate the work that others put into it. I prefer to express appreciation in other ways, e.g. by reporting bugs or providing patches (even if the quality of those is limited by my ability), or writing plugins myself and releasing them under an open source license without requiring anyone to put additional copyright notices to their pages, or simply by telling others that I'm using this or that piece of software and that I think it's worth a try.
2008-11-19, 01:06 AM
(2008-11-19, 12:41 AM)tiaralynn Wrote: [ -> ]What's a GNU/GPL?General Public License = Open Source
Most people will leave the footer credit, but you don't have to.
You do have to leave the credits at the top of the .php files.
2008-11-19, 01:20 AM
It thought the exception to the license was you weren't allowed to say Powered by "Your Name Here"?
2008-11-19, 01:33 AM
(2008-11-19, 01:05 AM)frostschutz Wrote: [ -> ]Personally I hate software that forces tons of copyright notices on to you... MyBB take this so far that it almost seems like a sickness, the standard copyright note does not contain only one, but two backlinks
Wow.. that must be a horrible experience. Two small links at the bottom of a forum - and those that you can remove as well.
2008-11-19, 01:36 AM
(2008-11-19, 01:05 AM)frostschutz Wrote: [ -> ]The only thing cheap about it is that they changed it to say "Powered By BryanSoftBB" as if it was their own work. That's definitely not a nice thing to do.
It's just make them selves look better. But it makes them look worse to others like us. But, what can you do? Some people just like to make them selves look better than they really are.
2008-11-19, 02:21 AM
I got in touch with them and here's the response:
Whoever rewer is.
Quote:oh rewer just changed that
it's really mybb
mybb changed their licence to gnu so you can change any part of it you want
Whoever rewer is.