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Teen coder shuts down open source Mac app Whisky, citing harm to paid apps (arstechnica.com)

submitted 2 months ago by fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to c/apple_enthusiast@lemmy.world

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[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 42 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

Harming paid apps is a plus.

[–] MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's not like he shut down someone else's work. He stopped working on his own pet project. There's nothing stopping you from picking it up and working on it. It's publicly available. Insulting him seems juvenile and entitled. It's not his job to supply people with this (literally, he's not being paid for it). Even if you think he took a payout to stop working on it, or he was bullied into stopping (no support for either of these positions) it's ok for an 18 year old to be concerned about threats from a company and it's ok for them to take a payout for something they worked on. Again, no evidence for either, but neither of those scenarios would make it appropriate to insult him.

Here, feel free to fork it: https://github.com/Whisky-App/Whisky

[–] Etnaphele@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Now, this is a very rude and ignorant comment. Did you even read the article? The reasons behind it are quite clear, while not being obvious from the user perspective. Not everything must or can be free (but I think I see where the sentiment against companies and corporations comes, and I share it: enshittification is all the rage, but not actually everywhere)

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago

Pretty fitting seeing this as a top comment on here as he mentioned the entitlement that people feel in using his work as one of the reasons he’s stepping back.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Said paid app is CrossOver, which is pretty great actually. CrossOver contributes all modifications back to Wine while CrossOver the product is just a proprietary set of per-app environmental configurations.

[+] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world -12 points 2 months ago (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee 10 points 2 months ago

He literally did say that he doesn’t have the time to maintain it anymore, in large part because of entitled users like you! You clearly didn’t read the article, and responded to the headline.

The kid is 18 and in college, you think this should be his full time job? And the “evil paid app” in this situation contributes all their work upstream to Wine, so the definition of a positive actor in the community.

What have you done by the way? What’s your contribution?

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Cowardice?

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world -3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Companies routinely bully small developers until they give up, rockstar and nintendo are big fans of that tactic. Cowardice is probably not the right word but I know I would cower if some company threw their legal department at me so thats the word I chose.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 2 months ago

You do realize he has said he did this out of personal admiration and hope for the Wine project's funding? If he had cowered he would not have lied. As seen in what he said when a previous project he worked for, Ryujinx, was shut down. No reason to believe there was any bullying.

[–] PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.social 40 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Fork it keep it going

[–] AmazingAwesomator@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)

i see bourbon in our future

[–] PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.social 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I do too! But I am an alcoholic. Which thread is this?

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

Cognac

[–] monogram@feddit.nl 2 points 2 months ago

Go for it 👍

[–] peregrin5@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Damn. How does one learn to build this kind of stuff as a teenager?

[–] B0rax@feddit.org 2 points 2 months ago

Lots of free time and google.

[+] bjorney@lemmy.ca -13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The "Paid app" he is referring to is wine for anyone too lazy to read the article

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 33 points 2 months ago

CrossOver actually. Which is a paid packaging for wine, with a per-program configuration, kinda like Bottles...but paid. There's a load of quotes directly from the CrossOver parent company CEO.....

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

for anyone too lazy to read the article

Um, well considering the paid app mentioned in the article is CrossOver not wine, ig that includes you too lol (though, CrossOver does contribute back to Wine, still can't trust them long term because profit....)

[–] bjorney@lemmy.ca 21 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yes, it was hyperbole, but saying "CodeWeavers does contribute back" is really downplaying it, many, if not most of the wine development is done by CodeWeavers employees (including Alexandre Julliard). Mac users buying crossover was pretty much the main economic driver turning the gears of wine for the 10-15 years before Valve started sponsoring it as well.

still can’t trust them long term because profit

The company is an employee owned trust (co-op) if that lessens the blow

[–] ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have never understood this attitude in the open source community. You’ll mouth off all day about how profit is bad, but so many projects can only survive with the backing of invested companies. You’re chasing the perfect at the expense of the good. Would Wine even exist today without CrossOver? I think no.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 4 points 2 months ago

Would Wine even exist today without CrossOver? I think no.

Deff not in the current state.