paul Wrote:So what are you gonna do about it DJH or is there nothing you can do
Well, there's plenty I
could do. I could make a real bloody nuisance of myself, for a start. I could also abort Aeon entirely and let the fury of its fans run amok. But that wouldn't do anyone any good.
I'm asked why I didn't take this up as a PM; it's because the matter was public already. If people have been deceived to the point where they're writing me nasty emails, then this is something for people to address. I should probably stop going on about a single email, though, as it's not important and it's not the issue at hand. The last few posters here have expressed that issue perfectly.
It might interest you know that I've had more than one corporate client - one of them major - interested in buying something "Aeon-esque" for their own use. I've turned them down for various reasons, a not insignificant one being the XBMC community and its freedom as a non-profit endeavour. I've been told that Aeon does something definitive by people I respect a great deal - Hollywood people, believe it or not - so that uniqueness is particularly precious. It's also what drives me to continue working on it. It does worry me, though, that one of these potential clients will just copy it anyway, so the issue of intellectual property is one I'm thoroughly at home with.
I've also been asked why I'm so uppity about this when we'll happily rip off an interface by Microsoft or Sony without a second thought. Hell, even I toyed with the possibilities of Microsoft's NXE, though I would have asked them first. But there is a fundamental difference. Corporations have two assurances when doing their big-league designs: they're being paid, for one, and they know that whatever small-time clones should appear, their work is guaranteed an audience of thousands, even millions. There will never be doubt over who should get the credit, and whatever significance they achieve will be rightly recognised.
All we have as volunteer skinners is the faint hope of a blog post, a user base, and maybe a nod of appreciation when names like Aeon, Media Stream and Project Mayhem are spoken around the world. Unauthorised, uncredited, pre-emptive clones don't help. People who defend them don't help. Until you've sacrificed all your free time to that slim ideal, you're in little position to judge. So you'll forgive me for getting on my soapbox.
It's no use saying, "Aww, but where's the problem if no textures are being reused?" That nonsense has come from Blackbolt's experience with Microsoft, a case of simple potential copyright infringement over specific Microsoft assets. I'd imagine Redmond was quietly warmed by the tribute it was getting, comfortable in the knowledge that its product was out in the wild and built into ten million games consoles. We don't have that luxury, though we spend just as much time on the work. If this debacle makes the casual forum browser and downloader appreciate that a little, it's been worth it.