Welcome to NeoOffice developer notes and announcements
NeoOffice
Developer notes and announcements
 
 

This website is an archive and is no longer active
NeoOffice announcements have moved to the NeoOffice News website


Support
· Forums
· NeoOffice Support
· NeoWiki


Announcements
· Twitter @NeoOffice


Downloads
· Download NeoOffice


  
NeoOffice :: View topic - MacOffice Professional
MacOffice Professional
 
   NeoOffice Forum Index -> Random Whatnot
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
ga427
Blue Pill


Joined: Aug 15, 2007
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:48 pm    Post subject: MacOffice Professional

Hey Patrick, Ed:

As far as I can determine without purchasing (i.e. by elimination of all other options), I believe the "lets rip off an open source project by taking their source and selling it" virus (cancer?) has struck NeoOffice again.

The name this time is MacOffice Professional.

If my logic is valid and this is indeed a repackaged NeoOffice, this would seem to be, at a minimum, a violation of the GPL by not publishing source.

Details:

1. press release:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/macoffice/suite/prweb546981.htm

2. Contact info from press release:

Richard Peters
MacOffice Professional, Inc.
(800) 884-6323

Phone number is apparently an answering machine in a 9th Avenue NYC apartment based on the zip code (presumably located by a whois of the domain name's address)

3. Newly registered web site is:

http://www.macofficepro.com/index.php

4a. Ars Technica also feels this is fraudlent

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/08/15/meet-the-new-mac-productivity-suite-same-as-the-old-productivity-suite

4b. the Mac Observer reports on this but doesn't catch on

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2007/08/15.7.shtml

4c. MacDailyNews.com originally showed this story but pulled it after reader comments on the scam. It had some useful details but the google cache is now empty.

I hope I'm wrong, but I thought y'all should be aware of this.

Glenn

P.S. Notice that I finally got around to registering!
Back to top
Samwise
Captain Naiobi


Joined: Apr 25, 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Montpellier, France

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:17 pm    Post subject:

This was also brought up here.
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:26 pm    Post subject:

This is actually legitimate for people to do as long as they comply with the GPL. My guess is that they are expecting to make money from providing unlimited support. Since providing paid support is not something Ed and I have any desire in doing (they have a toll-free number that you can call, we just have user forums), I assume that this is the "value-add" they are providing.

Although most users don't want to pay for support, some people do. If they fill that niche, good for them. Still, it will probably take them work to differentiate what they provide that NeoOffice doesn't if they are to be successful.

Patrick
Back to top
Waldo
Oracle


Joined: Dec 03, 2004
Posts: 239

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:22 pm    Post subject:

"MacOffice"? Seriously?

How long before the Hammerâ„¢ of Appleâ„¢ Trademarkâ„¢ Justiceâ„¢ splatters these guys all over the sidewalk?

W
Back to top
pluby
The Architect
The Architect


Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:29 pm    Post subject:

BTW, I wrote an e-mail today to one of MacOffice's contact e-mails asking nicely if they could post there source. The good news is that they immediately did so. The bad news is that the compressed source is over 700 MB so I really wouldn't bother asking them unless you really want to look at it.

To summarize what I found, they are using NeoOffice 2.1 with their own product name as required by our trademark policy. AFAICT, they have preserved our copyright statements and the GPL license in all files so they appear to be in compliance with the GPL.

Patrick
Back to top
ovvldc
Captain Naiobi


Joined: Sep 13, 2004
Posts: 2352
Location: Zürich, CH

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:52 pm    Post subject:

Look on the bright side: Someone thinks NeoOffice is now good enough to sell it with user support.

I feel this is an acknowledgement of how far Neo has come and how good the software now is.

Best wishes,
Oscar

_________________
"What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Back to top
astopy
Blue Pill


Joined: Aug 16, 2007
Posts: 3
Location: UK

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:10 am    Post subject:

For anyone who's interested, the source code is at http://www.macofficepro.com/MacOfficePro-source.zip
Back to top
astopy
Blue Pill


Joined: Aug 16, 2007
Posts: 3
Location: UK

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:06 am    Post subject:

I've just done a diff of their source code against the NeoOffice code. Aside from the fact that their source tree has a lot of stuff that just isn't in the NeoOffice tree (looks to be various libraries/dependencies, e.g. expat, berkeleydb) all they seem to have done is change the name and the ReadMe file.

Here's the diff (I've trimmed out differences in the files used by CVS): http://bovinemadness.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/diff-trimmed.txt

_________________
It's turtles all the way down...
Back to top
Samwise
Captain Naiobi


Joined: Apr 25, 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Montpellier, France

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 5:12 am    Post subject:

Thanks.
Back to top
aussie149
The Merovingian


Joined: Feb 12, 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Australia

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:07 pm    Post subject: I may be wrong...

Thanks from me too astopy. Interesting to see the differences. I could easily be quite wrong, but I recognise ooo_custom_images from when i was doing a cvs dump to get hold of the latest "industrial" [actually Tango] icons. When you do that cvs, you end up with a folder named ui, inside which are two folders - CVS [which you don't need for OOo/Neo] and ooo_custom_images. Could it be that this was their way of getting rid of Akua, reloading a OOo default set?

P

Apologies to Eric B for abbreviating OOo but, like the rest of the computing world, I've officially given up on typing it all out Wink
Back to top
kreegee
Red Pill


Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:12 pm    Post subject:

http://www.macofficepro.com/details.php

Quote:
MacOffice Professional is made available under the terms of the LGPL license.


That point would actually violate the GPL, but considering the fact that the Source contains the real license, it's probably only a mistake on the homepage...
Back to top
OPENSTEP
The One
The One


Joined: May 25, 2003
Posts: 4752
Location: Santa Barbara, CA

PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:18 pm    Post subject:

Yes that is a mistake. Our source code can only be released under the terms of the GPL license. Thank you for noticing this. I sent a brief notice so they can correct their webpage.

ed
Back to top
Samwise
Captain Naiobi


Joined: Apr 25, 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Montpellier, France

PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:59 am    Post subject:

They appear to have corrected the license on their website…
Back to top
mickeyinlalaland
Oracle


Joined: Feb 18, 2007
Posts: 239
Location: LaLaLand

PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:02 am    Post subject:

Correction was only done to the legal blurp at the very bottom of the page in what appears to be 6 pt type on the "Details" page.

On the same page; in text format (in what appears to be 12 pt type); the last line, still reads LPGL. And it's a link to "GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE" text.
Back to top
OPENSTEP
The One
The One


Joined: May 25, 2003
Posts: 4752
Location: Santa Barbara, CA

PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:39 pm    Post subject:

They are aware that it is GPL but the person authoring the website just used the wrong license. If you see any of these additional errors, let me know and I can forward them along.

ed
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
   NeoOffice Forum Index -> Random Whatnot All times are GMT - 7 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You cannot download files in this forum

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest © Planamesa Inc.
NeoOffice is a registered trademark of Planamesa Inc. and may not be used without permission.
PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.