Research on SMF

[Ghost Rider]

I was reading a member topic on another forum and they posted this:

I was doing a little research on SMF today and ran across this website:

http://www.hiveminds.co.uk/node/597

He allows replies to what he writes, and there are 3 pages of replies. For those that want to use SMF, I might suggest reading all 3 pages. There is one person who was an insider and says that the developer is going to be sticking everyone in the future, even though he is making a lot "promises" now.

While waiting for SMF to be loaded here, I thought I would browse around and see if I liked it first...I think I will stay away from it based on what I just read. I don't want to have a forum up and running and lose it because someone leaves a clause or two in his licensing that allows him to stick everyone and we lose our forums.

I hated to lose the recent version that was on here, I would really hate to set up another, get it moving good, and then have some idiot stab me in the back as it appears is the game plan.

I hope Devin and Steve read this! I'd hate for you guys to set this up, and have this happen to you. It would really make a lot of people mad.

The question now is...is what I read legit??? Is so, I will stay away from SMF. What do all of you think?

So what is this all about; the person above is talking about this site >> http://www.hiveminds.co.uk/node/597

[metallica48423]

First, i would like to point out that this license agreement on that page is old, as Lewis media no longer holds the rights to Simple Machines.  Simple Machines, LLC itself holds the license at this point  in time. You can view the latest license agreement at the link below:
http://www.simplemachines.org/about/license.php

Also see this page regarding the 'open source' portion of this:
http://www.simplemachines.org/about/opensource.php

Our core values, as team members, dictate the following:
http://www.simplemachines.org/about/values.php

[Ghost Rider]

Thank you i thought as much.

[metallica48423]

if you have any questions regarding the license agreement, our values, or anything regarding them, please feel free to shoot an email to [email protected] to get in touch with the proper person to answer these inquiries

[青山 素子]

Wow, interesting article, but misinformed.

I'm going to ramble a bit, please excuse me. All my comments are my personal observations and opinions and may not reflect the official stance of the team or anyone else.

Now, the first thing I see is that the writer doesn't state how they are defining "open source". This leads to one of the major misunderstandings in discussions like this. There is a difference between "open source" and "Open Source".

The phrase "open source" simply means the code is free to see and use. It is what it says. The source code is open. This is the traditional meaning behind the phrase (it comes from way back when you could get the source code to major commercial operating systems).

"Open Source" is whatever the OSI wants to define it as. (I have a feeling this is also partly behind why the FSF likes "free software" better).


It is true there is no legal guarantee that SMF will remain free, just promises. If this scares you away, so be it. However, keep in mind that all levels of this team have made the "SMF will remain free" statement, so that is reassuring because the whole organization is behind that point, not just one person.


Interesting comment from the "former team member" since, as you might notice, the predictions were completely wrong. Lewis Media gave over copyrights and the people managing the software are the legal owners of the software now. So, Jeff Lewis didn't screw anyone. Amazing, huh? Also, I fail to see how mod and theme developers could lose their possessions. That whole post sounds like an attempt to troll.


What also amuses me is the age comment. Last I checked, the growth of the Internet mostly started around 1995 (about the year I started on web stuff), so that means that as of the current date, the Internet is about 12 years old. Those twenty-something people ridiculed in the article have lived about half their life with the Internet being available, and yet they are criticized for being naive? I hate to say that I see a lot more older people fall for online scams and fake trust because someone has a nice-looking website. (Of course, all ages have their share of idiots.)


If you have any concerns, I am sure we would be happy to answer if we can, or direct you to someone who can answer them. Just please remember to be respectful to us, and we will happily show you the same.

[Ben_S]

The "article" was written by a wacko with a site with zero traffic, one way to try and get some traffic is to write a load of rubbish and try and stir up a reaction.

Frankly, it's a load of nonsense.

Going by his forum activity, his ramblings aren't working either, his site is still as dead as it was.

[Ghost Rider]

What does: LLC stand for; someone told me: "LLC is actually an acronym for Limited Liability Company (it's not a company itself.)"

[Thantos]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company

[Ghost Rider]

So who own SMF then?

[Joshua Dickerson]

So who own SMF then?

Simple Machines LLC

[Jorin]

@Motoko-chan: Feels good to read yout thoughts about this situation. It gives me the feeling of being held by the hand and protected from such a false propaganda against SMF.

Don't know where this autor has his informations from, but this can't be a serious source. All from the SMF team always promise SMF will be for free, and I believe in that totally. Joomla shows us, what can happen if a company works against her community. 

Sorry, my english isn't good enough to explain exactly what i have in mind... But maybe you can imagine with a lot of fantasy 

[青山 素子]

Don't know where this autor has his informations from, but this can't be a serious source. All from the SMF team always promise SMF will be for free, and I believe in that totally. Joomla shows us, what can happen if a company works against her community. 

Indeed. Miro played around long enough, Mambo got forked, and a good portion of the community left Mambo. Lying and being deceptive won't get one anywhere.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

[SlammedDime]

Thats funny.... lol.

[christicehurst]

Wow, interesting article, but misinformed.

I'm going to ramble a bit, please excuse me. All my comments are my personal observations and opinions and may not reflect the official stance of the team or anyone else.

Now, the first thing I see is that the writer doesn't state how they are defining "open source". This leads to one of the major misunderstandings in discussions like this. There is a difference between "open source" and "Open Source".

The phrase "open source" simply means the code is free to see and use. It is what it says. The source code is open. This is the traditional meaning behind the phrase (it comes from way back when you could get the source code to major commercial operating systems).

"Open Source" is whatever the OSI wants to define it as. (I have a feeling this is also partly behind why the FSF likes "free software" better).


It is true there is no legal guarantee that SMF will remain free, just promises. If this scares you away, so be it. However, keep in mind that all levels of this team have made the "SMF will remain free" statement, so that is reassuring because the whole organization is behind that point, not just one person.


Interesting comment from the "former team member" since, as you might notice, the predictions were completely wrong. Lewis Media gave over copyrights and the people managing the software are the legal owners of the software now. So, Jeff Lewis didn't screw anyone. Amazing, huh? Also, I fail to see how mod and theme developers could lose their possessions. That whole post sounds like an attempt to troll.


What also amuses me is the age comment. Last I checked, the growth of the Internet mostly started around 1995 (about the year I started on web stuff), so that means that as of the current date, the Internet is about 12 years old. Those twenty-something people ridiculed in the article have lived about half their life with the Internet being available, and yet they are criticized for being naive? I hate to say that I see a lot more older people fall for online scams and fake trust because someone has a nice-looking website. (Of course, all ages have their share of idiots.)


If you have any concerns, I am sure we would be happy to answer if we can, or direct you to someone who can answer them. Just please remember to be respectful to us, and we will happily show you the same.

Promises are meant to be broken in the future. Would Simple Machines ever put the words open source and freeware on the software and we site to say that will be free forever. Or are people still thinking of a future of paid software. If the team wants to make a promise, let's go all the way with it.

[Oldiesmann]

You don't have to believe us if you don't want to, but I guarantee you that none of the project managers (me included) or developers would ever allow SMF to go paid.

[shadow82x]

Exactly, thats why so many people use smf

http://www.simplemachines.org/about/whyfree.php

[Gary]

You don't have to believe us if you don't want to, but I guarantee you that none of the project managers (me included) or developers would ever allow SMF to go paid.

Not to mention the Customisers, Doc Writers, Support Specialists and Marketing people.

-ALM

[metallica48423]

Indeed.  I would not be here right now if SMF were not free.  I would have stuck with IPB and likely have a lot more free time

[Harro]

And I would still be using phpBB and spend all the time I spend here now on installing security updates for phpBB

[Dragooon]

If SMF wasn't free I wouldn't even had a forum because IPB and vBulliten are paid.PhpBB sucks at security(Well that is what i got from my cousin as he said it is quite hard to make it secure and I really dont use things which have security holes),and if SMF was paid I wouldn't be running a successful forum as I currently do.And the one who wrote that article was a stone head(lol).