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posted by janrinok on Thursday February 08 2018, @12:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the too-big-to-be-punished? dept.

From TorrentFreak:

VideoLAN, the team behind the VLC media player, recently revealed that they turned down several tens of millions of euros to bundle their software with advertising. The same cannot be said of third-party developers cloning VLC for profit, however. An ad-supported clone discovered on Google Play has a staggering five to ten million downloads and breaches VLC's GPL license, yet Google refuses to take it down.

[...] Aside from its incredible functionality, VLC (operated by the VideoLAN non-profit) has won the hearts of Internet users for other key reasons, not least its commitment to being free and open source software. While it's true to say that VLC doesn't cost a penny, the term 'free' actually relates to the General Public License (GPL) under which it's distributed.

[...] Since VLC is extremely popular and just about as 'free' as software can get, people get extremely defensive when they perceive that a third-party is benefiting from the software without adhering to the terms of the generous GPL license. That was the case beginning a few hours ago when veteran Reddit user MartinVanBallin pointed out a piece of software on the Google Play Store.

"They took VLC, put in ads, didn't attribute VLC or follow the open source license, and they're using Media Player Classics icon," MartinVanBallin wrote.

Update: The app is no longer on Google Play.


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @01:23AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @01:23AM (#634597)

    Justice will be well served when SoylentNews goes down and never comes back up.

    Starting Score:    0  points
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       Offtopic=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Offtopic' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:15AM (#634656)

    > goes down and never comes back up.

    Not everything is your dick.

  • (Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:53AM (4 children)

    by fakefuck39 (6620) on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:53AM (#634663)

    why the fuck would you want this site gone? all those losers in highschool that I used to stuff into a locker, who thought they were very smart but are actually just awkward and slightly autistic, and very, very ugly. they're all here. they say the dumbest shit. they can't hold a professional job. they are even more awkward now. so entertaining to read as I sit in my expensive apartment, as I sit on a plane for my monthly fun trip to europe or asia, as I bang hot girls half my age.

    there was a guy on slashdot named cdreimer. disgusting fat unsuccessful ugly loser at life. and he kept posting for some reason - some defect in his brain made him paint reality in colors that made his life awesome to him and really funny and sad to everyone normal. it was very entertaining. then he got the hint after a year and left. this place, including a couple of the admins on here, has a whole bunch of cdreimers. it's like the classic slashdot crowd from the 90's (like me) left, the millennial idiots are all over reddit, and the real nerd losers came here. not "nerd" in the good smart highly paid network professional way. the ugly fat pizzaface porn-gobbling highschool loser who is now an adult, but never grew up. he still thinks he is smart, and he was, compared to his peers in school.

    why would you want this entertainment to go away?

    • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:42AM (3 children)

      by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:42AM (#634699) Homepage Journal

      It is my understanding that your mother doesn't charge you rent for living in her basement.

      --
      Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
      • (Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Thursday February 08 2018, @07:10AM (2 children)

        by fakefuck39 (6620) on Thursday February 08 2018, @07:10AM (#634761)

        Of course she doesn't. Why would she since my parents live in the house I bought them. I love how antisocial losers afraid of large groups of normal people get all alpha behind a keyboard and let rip these hardcore insults. Sir, as I said in my original post, you are the reason I come to this site. Unfortunately clowns like you are scared to join any type of social event I would be attending, so all I can get is this online entertainment.

        • (Score: 2) by Geotti on Thursday February 08 2018, @10:44AM

          by Geotti (1146) on Thursday February 08 2018, @10:44AM (#634812) Journal

          Why would she since my parents live in the house I bought them.

          Because, when you took that loan from the bank to "buy" your parents a house (so you could brag about it to your internet "friends,") you miscalculated the rates and are now spending all of the pocket money you get from your 9 to 5 meat-mincer-job on them?

        • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:00PM

          by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:00PM (#635020) Homepage Journal

          I wouldn't want to scare you away from any website that's got me in it

          --
          Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]