

Stop Copying HelloSign: An Open Letter to DocuSign CEO, Keith Krach - burnout1540
http://blog.hellosign.com/docusign-copying-hellosign-open-letter-to-keith-krach/

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debacle
> Copying hurts innovation and the tech world as a whole.

Whaaat? Copying only accelerates innovation. To claim that you wouldn't
improve _your_ UI because someone else might similarly improve their UI is
specious - no one is going to intentionally hinder their product because
they're worried that someone else might equally improve their product.

> Copying is bad for customers.

And music piracy is literally taking money out of Bono's wallet. Product
evolution tends to happen in cycles, and things that were previously design
decisions become design standards. That's how design works. If you think your
UI is better, DocuSign, by copying your UI, has made their UI better.

> Copying is unethical.

This is purely subjective. Copying is how software __works __.

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DocuSign is suing SkySlope for pretty blatant trademark infringement.
HelloSign is whining because the design (which looks very generic) is similar
to the DocuSign design?

And from the linked article:

> When we attempted to check DocuSign’s new design ourselves, we didn’t see
> the potentially HelloSign-inspired design at all.

Then what the hell is Joseph Walla whining about?

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justboxing
I think this is a very clever (and FREE) way for HelloSign to get Publicity
and new users / "sign"-ups.

Until I saw this post, I didn't even know HelloSign existed :)

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mtmail
yeah, looks like PR. "We thought it was worth starting a conversation. <other
CEO>, I’d love to hear your thoughts." Not sure if you start conversations
with open letters on blogs. The other company's lawyer will probably advice
not to join the conversation.

