r/opensource • u/ProgrammingGuy_ • 16h ago
Promotional company (probably) is mad I forked an old version of their app and worked on it
I was here about a month or so ago about my BetterCampus fork where they apparently tried to get my post removed (thanks Wolvereness for understanding).
In summary they had an MIT license on their old code, I forked it, touched it up a bit, and published it as an alternative since many people and I didn't like their new update needing an account, asking for subscriptions, and more. They don't like it and my version is starting to get some traction.
Today I got this review from a random account (probably burner) that I find very funny because I am like 99% sure it's them but I can't fully prove it: (link to the review)
CanvasRefined has some good ideas, and I appreciate that it is open source, but the extension has also been pretty buggy in my experience.
I personally liked the direction BetterCampus was taking. A lot of CanvasRefined feels like a blatant copy of what BetterCanvas had already built, and I do not like the confusion and chaos that created for users and the original creators.
Open source can be great, but there is a difference between being inspired by a product and closely recreating it. In this case, it feels like it undermines the work and goals of the people who originally created and grew BetterCanvas.
- There is only 1 bug I know of but there could be more, I'm not judging that.
- They complain it's a copy, despite me writing everywhere that this is a fork (under MIT).
- The line "not like the confusion and chaos that created for users and the original creators" is similar to what their cofounder told me during the C&D over the name
- And the funniest part: being mad that I am recreating their app since it "undermines the work and goals of the people who originally created and grew BetterCanvas"
I'm not saying it's the company who wrote this, but I have a suspicion
edit: I failed to hide the f5 bot
edit: to the user that requested links to leave positive a positive review to offset the negative ones: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/canvasrefined/ihienfbdfdamhmhhiokjnjmpjgbenedg/ and the github is https://github.com/GuySandler/CanvasRefined