In 15 years this might be the first time I've half-broken the professionalism barrier. (You're also doing a way better job at avoiding snark than I am again, I am super close to the subject, so it is an extra challenge.) I do care about your opinion and I think it is valid. If anything I'm probably a more sympathetic observer than a person that may wander in here randomly. You certainly don't have to care about my opinion - it's just my perspective as someone who both bought your software, and is also in software development. I suspect that may be the same for others. However, if I did it would've been because of the presentation/tone of your comment and not for the substance. It gets real muddy, real quick.Īlso, just for the record I did not downvote you. I hope you don't use any OSS in your project, lest you be indirectly "attacking the livelihood" of another developer. That's not what creating an Open Source alternative to a piece of paid software is. I also can't agree with your interpretation that his "stated goal is to attack your personal livelihood". The OP seems more than willing to take your suggestions and thus there really isn't any reason for you to have issued him a veiled legal threat (".instead of drafting cease and desist letters with my lawyer."). Simply being a bit more professional does not equate to "hand-holding". You are ultimately representing your company, not only yourself, even if you are the lone developer. With that said, your tone was unnecessarily snarky and aggressive. I've been a Software Engineer for over 15 years, so I understand a lot of where you're coming from. Do I need to go to undue lengths to hand-hold someone whose stated goal is to attack my personal livelihood? Not in this life. Is any of it factual incorrect? Not that I can see. Rereading what I wrote, I still don't think I'd change anything. Sometimes it's a little hard to figure out where I end and Synthesia begins. I understand everyone likes free things but I'm more than ten thousand hours into this project, with something on the order of 25k forum and email replies to requests for help. Seeing passerbys downvote my "please don't steal my files" post just sours the whole thing for me even more. If I'm ever going to be justified in being a little upset, it doesn't get more opportune than this situation. But "check out this copy I made" isn't competition. But it's the heart of where the reaction came from.Ĭompetition is one thing and-as a sole developer with my (and my family's) livelihood always on the hook-it already involves more emotional investment than I'd care to admit. Then, wake up one morning and read a post from a kid that doesn't understand intellectual property that says "hey guys, check out how I (in some cases, literally) copied everything verbatim and now you can use it for free."įine, I'll grant that's a bit of an exaggeration. In general, maybe don't copy files directly out of proprietary software packages without at least checking with someone first.Īs a thought experiment: spend 15 years of your life working on a cool thing that is the sole method by which you feed your family and create security in your life. You are looking for things where the file hash doesn't match. So you're not looking for things that you "can't independently find on his website". The resulting files are new works that you do not have the rights to redistribute. Any that started there have all been modified substantially to include several major feature changes (split hands, corrections, tempo adjustments, and other cleanup). Otherwise, Synthesia ships with exactly zero original files from his website. Hearing someone else say "I heard it was in the public domain" is not sufficient research (as you presumably just learned). You'll have to talk to Gilbert about the songs on his website. This is why I'm here giving you advice instead of drafting cease and desist letters with my lawyer. From all the profanity in your commit messages along with the rest of these dumb mistakes, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you're probably a young person-either in high school or early twenties-and simply don't know any better yet. This is the "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission" philosophy in action. "I'm sorry I didn't realize!" is one of those things I bet judges love to hear.
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