commons-app / apps-android-commons

The Wikimedia Commons Android app allows users to upload pictures from their Android phone/tablet to Wikimedia Commons
https://commons-app.github.io/
Apache License 2.0
1.03k stars 1.24k forks source link

Telegram screenshot used as an example of 'proprietary app' #740

Closed ghost closed 7 years ago

ghost commented 7 years ago

I don't think there's a way to fix this without actually doing what it says we shouldn't do, but still, I don't think Telegram (an app under GPL) is a good representation of a 'proprietary app'

neslihanturan commented 7 years ago

Actually, Telegram's server-side software is closed-source and proprietary as far as I know. But I couldn't understand the relation between telegram and commons app. Could you please share more information about this issue?

nicolas-raoul commented 7 years ago

Well spotted, but...

The trick here is that if we include a real screenshot of an actual proprietary app in our open source app, it would be copyright infringement.

So I chose a screenshot of an app that "looks" proprietary, hoping that most won't notice ^_^

Cheers!

On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 9:44 PM, neslihanturan notifications@github.com wrote:

Actually, Telegram's server-side software is closed-source and proprietary as far as I know. But I couldn't understand the relation between telegram and commons app. Could you please share more information about this issue?

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/commons-app/apps-android-commons/issues/740#issuecomment-309016863, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAGFBnWeXxfNF7gpEd3FCCp32hFgwCDuks5sEnjFgaJpZM4N8YA7 .

ghost commented 7 years ago

That was what I thought, so this can't really be fixed, except if we maybe do a mockup of some proprietary app? Anyway, this is obviously not a big problem so you can close this if you want to

nicolas-raoul commented 7 years ago

Anyone willing to create a mockup? It has to look like a real popular mainstream app, so presumably quite polished, and you need to release the picture as public domain (or GNU-GPL), CC-BY-SA is not enough.

misaochan commented 7 years ago

@neslihanturan I think he is referring to us using a Telegram screenshot as a "do not upload" example in our tutorial.

@Matttter Yeah, sorry, it's a bit of a Catch-22 as Nicolas explained. :)

domdomegg commented 7 years ago

Here's a quick mockup - released into PD via CC0. It's not perfect, so if someone wants to improve please do - but should be good for the purposes it serves and means we can stop using apps that pride themselves on being open source like Telegram as an example of a proprietary app.

facebookcross

SVG: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_media_app_mockup_screenshot.svg

ghost commented 7 years ago

Looks great! Just one minor issue, I don't think Alex Jones would be proud to have a trip on an electric bus, global warming being a conspiracy and all :D. Maybe J. Jones?

More serious: Telegram indeed prides itself in being open source, but we shouldn't applaud them for the way they handle it, it's as proprietary of a release habit as you could possibly have on an app that calls itself 'open source'. They routinely violate the GPL by not releasing code but releasing binaries with new features for months at a time. Still better than not free at all apps though obviously

misaochan commented 7 years ago

That looks great, @domdomegg ! Would you like to submit a PR replacing the Telegram screenshot with this one? Thanks!

domdomegg commented 7 years ago

Uploaded SVG with red x, and fixed so the x is identical size to the no selfie pic

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social_media_app_mockup_screenshot_rejected.svg

(Also released via CC0)