The unfortunate case of one particular Meedios skin

Speaking for myself here, I feel the biggest problem isn't the actual copying of the skin but the way it went about. I feel it's about showing respect to the original author by asking up front and by providing credit to the author.
Just out of general interest in all things htpc/mediacenter I visit the meedios forum occassionally. I had seen the aeon "port" before and admittedly automatically assumed it had djh's consent but found it strange that nowhere to be found was any mention of the original project.
I don't buy the "it's open source so everything is automatically ok to copy" sentiment. Open Source doesn't (or shouldn't) eliminate common courtesy imo.
I don't really understand the need to clone Aeon anyway as I feel that crni is quite capable of producing some fine original work. As a matter of fact I was contemplating porting Vintage to XBMC long ago, but then I found out that crni preferred to have no ports to other platforms. I could have gone on and use "the open source argument", but I felt I needed to respect his wishes and ditch the plan.

crn responded to djh in the thread and I have to say he was pretty respectful of the whole matter. I do agree that the whole situation was messed up but I have to respect him for at least acting on Duncan's requests.

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.

I will simply repost what CRN wrote on the meedios forums, he seems to be much more respectful than me

djh_ Wrote:If crn appreciates both then I hope he'll honour my wish to have the cloned material removed from his skin and its own identity re-established.

crn Wrote:I thought I already did that and that matter has been resolved :?
I respect your work, I asked you specifically what parts you want me to remove from Chrome and I have complied with every request you made. I've removed download link and will upload version with removed STARK related stuff later (Transparent menu and OSD info panels are just one small part of the Chrome so it's not that hard to make the changes)
If you want me to do anything else all you have to do is ask so I really don't see why there is still talk about this or why do you have to post sticky in XBMC forum.
(well I guess you are pissed off so you did what you needed/had to do to get it out of your system)

Those other screens you posted are not released or even finished yet. Those are just screenshots and I had no intention of releasing them before checking with you as they obviously have STARK written all over them (in fact that was the working title). Well I guess that's out of the question now but I have no problem with that...
I do this kind a stuff for fun and having something like this manageable in app that is basically been in NO development for years now (and that only chosen few has been able to setup :lol: ) is more a challenge then anything...

Other then distinctive home page and time and rss panels I don't consider other parts of the skin cloned but just to be on the safe side I'd like to know do you consider this to be clones of your skin and do you have problem with this :

To all of others that are trying to defend me in some way - please don't. DJH_ has every right to claim what's his and if it wasn't for his work none of this would be possible in meedio today as seeing his original AEON is what's made me try to push things like fanart and backdrops in meedio although very few believed that's possible in such 'old' app... I just regret all the drama as all of this could / would easily be resolved with single PM...

Also I'd like to clear one more thing. As for not allowing Vintage to be ported to the XBMC it's true. At the time it was the only thing that was drawing users back to the meedio so I'd feared that allowing it to be ported would damaged meedio community. In my defense later I was approached with same requests for Chrome and I granted permission to whoever asked to use whatever part of the theme in any way they wanted...

And let that be that. I've extended my thanks to crn for his honesty and promptness in resolving the matter, especially at Christmas. Thanks also to you guys for your immediate support - not for a moment did I worry that I was on my own, though I could easily have.

That's it, then. Ring destroyed. Everyone back the Shire.

(Oh, and in a little Christmas treat, Emilio's back from the wilderness with his personal matters resolved. So you know that Aeon look we've been arguing over today? Now it gets better again.)