Do you know about the NearDrop on Mac App Store?

[iphoneio]

Hi,

I recently discovered that a fork of NearDrop by Leon Böttger has been published on the Mac App Store. I wanted to check if you were aware of this and whether this distribution was done with your knowledge or approval.

Here is the link to the fork: https://apps.apple.com/app/neardrop-quickshare-client/id6740147178 https://github.com/leonboe1/NearDrop-AppStore

Are there any differences between this fork and the original NearDrop that users should be aware of? Also, do you have any concerns regarding this fork’s distribution or potential confusion among users?

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Best regards,

[grishka]

I had no idea that this is a thing

[grishka]

I would prefer that it used a different name.

[leonboe1]

Hi there,

I apologize for not informing you about this fork. Some friends of mine wanted to use NearDrop, but did not want to install unsigned software.

Currently, there are only small changes, such as a welcome screen, sandbox support, and additional translations. If you want, you can use the code of those parts.

It's good that you bring up the name because of potential confusion. That's a good point. Maybe renaming it QuickDrop would be a more suitable name.

[dusk-exhale-paging]

Just want to share that the developer of QuickDrop is now charging for unlimited exchanging of files in the Mac App Store.

[grishka]

And somehow this version history: No longer agrees with the last commit in that repo being on 11 March. It's as if @leonboe1 "forgot" to push the new commits for more than two months of releases, huh. So convenient.

It's not very nice behavior to take someone else's work that they shared with the world for free and start charging money for it. I feel sorry for your users.

But that said, I also kinda did this to myself by choosing this license — and I publish all my projects under Unlicense because I despise copyright as a concept in its current form. It is more of an impediment to the progress of the humankind, it does more harm than good.

[leonboe1]

Hi there,

You’re right — I hadn’t pushed to the repo in a while. I’ve just updated it now, sorry.

Regarding charging of the app: I understand your viewpoint completely. It’s never an easy line to walk. Even though my version has gradually evolved with many fixes, features, and a new standalone Android app, none of that takes away from the fact that your original work made it possible in the first place, and I really appreciate that. There's now a pre-compiled and signed free version of my app in my repo.

I’d also genuinely like to contribute the improvements I’ve made to QuickDrop back to NearDrop. I opened [PR #196], but it’s still pending. If there’s anything I should adjust, just let me know. I’m happy to discuss it.

Best, Leon

[nozwock]

Just want to share that the developer of QuickDrop is now charging for unlimited exchanging of files in the Mac App Store.

Really glad I'm nowhere near the Apple ecosystem. At least the users on Linux wouldn't let stuff like this slide.

[grishka]

If I would've released NearDrop under license like GPL, anyone who forks it would be legally required to publish their modified sources and tell their users how to get them. There also exist open-source licenses that explicitly forbid charging money for access to the software. So no, it's not something inherent to the Apple ecosystem.

Commercial Linux distributions do exist, by the way. Of course, along with free versions built from sources by the community. As far as I can tell these primarily exist so large businesses could pay someone to get tech support. The most famous example would be Red Hat (paid) and CentOS (same thing but free).

[nozwock]

Oh of course, but I was focusing on it being an app that restricts its functionality to get users to pay for the "premium" version and the like. Feels a lot more scummy than outright charging for the software from the start. But, then again I understand that it also works as a demo.

It's that in-app purchase that I think majority of the user base on Linux wouldn't be okay with. For now at least I think.

There also exist open-source licenses that explicitly forbid charging money for access to the software.

Really? Any approved by OSI, or at least something well recognized? Could you tell me some? I've just been using GPL, but I think I'd prefer a license like this more.

[grishka]

Okay, after some quick research, it turns out I got various ideas mixed up. Any license that forbids any form of use, including sale, is not "open source". It says so right there, in the first paragraph of the OSI definition:

The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources.

However, Creative Commons BY-NC-SA seems to be almost what you want. Almost, because it's not quite clear what "non-commercial" means here — there are opinions that it would prevent the use of, for example, a non-commercially-licensed JS library on an online shop website.

[billylo1]

Hi, @grishka - I stumbled upon your NearDrop super useful and forked a version made by XrayAdamo (auto-start and auto-accept) and removed the Notification stuff that Apple doesn't like.

I don't mind going throug the App Store review and intend to keep it free and open source, so my non-technical friends can get the app through Apple Mac App Store... a) would you be ok with this approach? b) would you prefer me to use a different name than XrayAdamo's NearDrop Plus?

I am a retired developer, doing non-profit work in general. https://evergreen-labs.org

Thanks, Billy.