NYCPHP Meetup

[Mitch Pirtle]

First off, a disclaimer that I am a Mambo core developer, and
therefore the tool of Satan.

I'd like to point out some of the facts behind this story:

1) Brian DID distribute Mambo from his site, for weeks (maybe months).
 We even took a screenshot of the downloads page because we thought it
was strange for him to claim something was his, but then distribute it
under the GPL under Miro's copyright.  (Miro is the copyright holder
for Mambo)  Typical Brian behavior, the download area of the site just
mysteriously disappeared...

2) The developer accused of 'stealing' the code actually wrote two
completely separate files - one was a quick hack (nine lines of code)
to a core component of Mambo for the 'client'; and the other was
written a month later with a completely different implementation.

3) The last point, which I find the most distasteful, is that Brian
was a happy member of the Mambo community for a whole year before he
said anything (and knew about the frontpage component/s functionality
all along), and only a month or so before announcing his new website
did he start making a fuss.  He says that he waited for an appropriate
time, I suppose when you need some free press that makes it
appropriate?

This is a PR man with an agenda, and if it had anything to do with
correcting a wrongdoing he would have taken us to court long ago.  I
never did see any evidence from him (no contract, no nothing) and have
been saying for weeks now, "Put up or shut up."  Unfortunately there
is nothing for him to put up, and he certainly won't shut up ;-) It
has grown so nauseatingly repetitive that we openly challenge him to
show us any solid proof - and the best he has mustered is an alleged
(but undelivered) email - which interestingly he fails to send to us
in whole for analysis, although he can send it to his crony
publishers...

Back on the 'alleged issues' (wink wink, nudge nudge), nobody seems to
note that the code Brian claims was stolen WAS NEVER INSERTED INTO
MAMBO CORE.  Please, read that last sentence again, and repeat after
me...  The developer modified 9 lines of code in frontpage.php and
sent it directly to Brian, and that code was never distributed after
that (except by Brian LOL).  On top of that, he has no patents or
trademarks on the 'leading column' front page display technique, as
that has been in use as long as we have had HTML tables (CNN, BBC
etc.)...

I can't tell if he is accusing Emir of stealing the code he paid him
to write (false), thinks he somehow owns the idea of a front page
(still false), or thinks that paying someone to write code
automatically makes it yours (which is also false).

Sorry for coming across so aggressive, but this guy is playing the
media for chumps, at the expense of a project completely manned by
volunteers (who have done nothing wrong), just for some free
publicity; and I really find that despicable.  How in the world can he
threaten the end users of Mambo - and knowing that he has no case,
then why threaten anyone at all?  SCO at least could try to make money
from IBM and others, but Brian is clearly after a media grab and could
care less about anyone but himself.

I would not read too much from the posted articles (hell I was even
misquoted enough to have to post corrections on my site) - but instead
take a look at what Brian says on his site, then read what Emir says
on his site, and what the Mambo team states on theirs:

http://www.literatigroup.com/versusmambo/
http://sakic.net/index.php?option=news&id=13
http://mamboserver.com/The_News/News/Statement_regarding_Furthermore.com/

Interesting is that Brian dedicates his whole site
(www.furthermore.com) now to assaulting Mambo, which powers his own
site.  *shrug*

I am told that the publicity is actually good for Mambo, as downloads
have spiked to the point of us needing more servers to handle the
load; but I am horribly offended that someone can just open up a
character assassination campaign and there is little to be done to
protect the innocent except lose hours and hours of valuable time. 
:-(

We've now opened up a legal defense fund, as we are convinced that
this kind of behavior will not go away and only get worse.  We've had
all the developers sign agreements to Miro to make sure who has the
ultimate copyright, and worry that this will eventually lead to us not
allowing third party code contributions without a 10-page legal
document :-(

IMHO this is the biggest threat to FOSS, the capability of someone
slandering and defaming a FOSS project, and the project having no
resources to defend itself.  Who's next?

-- Mitch

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 06:56:47 -0400, Tim Gales <tgales at tgaconnect.com> wrote:
> 
> Apparently, Brian Connolly of Furthermore Inc.
> claims that Mambo has unlawfully used some of
> it's code.