NYCPHP Meetup

[bz-gmort at beezifies.com]

Compustretch NewYork wrote:
> bz-gmort at beezifies.com wrote:
>> but does have a bit of a sleazy rep(basically, they took a GPL SEF 
>> product, heavily enhanced it, and now sell it as non-GPL.  You can 
>> install a free copy, but it inserts hidden ads in your web pages meta 
>> information.)
>>
> Um, yeah that's beyond sleazy. If true, I don't see how anyone could 
> conscience supporting that project.
> 
> I think most Joomla developers take GPL very seriously. Even if you 
> don't release under the GPL, you still respect it, otherwise they're 
> just code thieves!

Yup.  I used it for a while, then looked out on the forums about the 
complaints about the hidden ads, which I figured was their right since 
they wrote it.  But then people kept commenting about how it was an 
upgraded version of some other dead SEF product.

Even with that, I'm fairly fine with them selling it, as a GPL product 
with attribution to the prior code.

It seems that periodically after they release a version, someone goes 
and strips out the ads from the obfuscated code and releases a non-ad 
version.  That someone then mentions getting a nasty gram from them 
about the software being copyrighted.

Heck, I'm not a big fan of how the GPL is interpretted by many, but this 
is such a clear violation of the GPL - no matter how much you "enhance" 
a program, if it's GPL to begin with, it's GPL when your done enhancing it.

Like I said...I'm looking into sh404sef now. :-)