this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2023
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F-Droid

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F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device.

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As reported in a reddit post and confirmed in a github discussion, Simple Mobile Tools is being sold to ZippoApps which is known for shady business practices.

It is not yet clear whether they will make the app suite closed source (which would infringe the rights of all contributors since they contributed under the GPLv3 license).

In response to that situation, one of the main contributors forked the project under the name FossifyX and will continue to work on it.

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[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 57 points 9 months ago (3 children)

This is open source at its best: the original developer somehow decided to sell out to the dark side and someone rescued the projects within a couple of days. Brillant!

And thank goodness for that too: I used SMT Calendar but Etar misses a couple of features I really need that would make it a good replacement, so I'll be sure to install FossifyX Calendar as soon as F-Droid picks it up.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I dunno much about these licenses but is it possible the new owners could nullify the GPL rights? Like "no you can no longer fork this code that you could previously"?

Just trying to figure out exactly what their motive is here...

[–] d_k_bo@feddit.de 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

(IANAL)

Since the software is already distributed under the terms of the GPLv3 (which guarantees irrevocable rights) there is no way to forbid any distribution of the current version of the software.

It is however possible to distribute future works under a different license, but only if you aren't bound by the GPL yourself. This would be the case if you wrote the code yourself or all contributors grant you the right to do so (eg. using a Contributor License Agreement).

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

There are clever ways to split software via different abstractions that allow to avoid some license features from affecting future developments too. That is to add new closed source features without relicensing the existing codebase.

[–] devfuuu@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Once someone exists publicly as code with an attached valid license it cannot be retroactively removed the right to use it. So only new versions could have different licenses or something.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Some folks seem to forget this feature of open source when it comes to projects like Chromium. History has plenty of examples of forks of small and large projects. Chromium (Blink) itself is one.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 31 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Hopefully FDroid keeps an eye on this project and removes/replaces the "Simple" suite as necessary.

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 13 points 9 months ago

At the very least I imagine they will flag it with the undesirable features tag once someone gives them a heads up 🤞

[–] blubfisch@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 8 months ago

I think they will migrate everything to fossify. With the gallery this already happened, the SMT Gallery vanished from my phone and the fossify gallery appeared. I guess that’s a good way to go, since for now fossify is just the same thing with a different name.

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago

Forgive me if I'm wrong because I'm a bit confused, but I think only the free version or non pro version are the sold ones?

Aren't the pro versions available in F-droid already? Would those be affected?

[–] sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf 30 points 9 months ago

I'm certainly rooting for Naveen and wishing him the best of luck. Hopefully he can make the apps his own and take them to new heights, it helps that they're all pretty much feature complete.

[–] YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca 15 points 9 months ago

That sucks, I used to use them.

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@feddit.ch 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Just read the entire thread. This is sad. I was about to recommend the contacts app to my Dad, glad I didn't.

There is also another fork for the contacts app called Simple Contacts Pro SE by Stephan Ritscher.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

For contacts I like Connect You.

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@feddit.ch 4 points 9 months ago

I've tried it a few times in the past but have always come across bugs that give me functional issues. I can't remember exactly what they were right now but give it another few months and I'll probably try it again.

[–] SteveCC@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Wondering if ConnectYou will work with my contact list in NextCloud.

[–] noodlejetski@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago

if you use DAVx5 to sync them, every app with contact access will be able use them.

[–] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 10 points 9 months ago

That's nice to see though I changed my apps after the developer endorsed that shit phone that was quickly abandoned.

The tl;dr is someone went to him with a cheap Chinese phone that they then marked up a few hundred percent. Pre-installed SMT apps and marketed it as privacy centric, de-googled, free range, etc. When he was called out on it he doubled down. There isn't a link to it on his site anymore, but this is it https://simplephone.tech/eu/

Tibbi has not updated his blog to say he sold out, nor his Reddit sub. The only confirmation from him is a short response on GitHub. This is totally on brand for them.

[–] nephs@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 9 months ago

I'm a happy user of simple sms. I didn't know it was a series of apps! Thank you!

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Gimme new Play Store links kthxbye.

Is there a remindme bot on Lemmy?

!remindme: 2 days.

[–] Antimoon51@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It‘s 5 days now, but better than nothing, I hope?

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Thanks.

Still no Play Store links in sight.

I'm not sure who exactly maintains f-droid builds.

[–] johntash@eviltoast.org 2 points 9 months ago

Thanks for the heads up. I don't use these apps as much as I used to but I always appreciated that they exist.

[–] JoYo@lemmy.ml -3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

that’s good, these tools have been abandoned and unusable on chromebooks ever since the switch to ARCVM.

Edit: I get the feeling that none of you know what ARCVM is.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago

Chromebooks are not even possible to degoogle. If you use these devices, you buy into Google...