

Thanks for using my code, Google - cousin_it
http://openphotovr.jottit.com/re_panoramio

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jpeterson
The most amazing part of this post is that people are still using jottit.

~~~
hhm
I use it a lot, for internal stuff only. But it's very useful for me. Is there
any better alternative? (jottit is king in being simple and fast)

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nickb
Make sure you back it up!

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volida
well its obvious they copied. It doesnt matter if it is a re write. They owe
somebody a thank note.

So much for the do no evil bullshit.

~~~
jrockway
Building on someone else's work is "evil" now? Where I come from, we call that
"progress."

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systems
the evil was not referencing the original work

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ComputerGuru
The interface on the Google service is identical as best as I can figure -
does "Do no evil" include saying thank you to the authors of open source code?

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cousin_it
I see a lot of differences; maybe they even recoded it from scratch. But it
uses some interesting tricks I invented, and doesn't use the easy features
that I didn't include. They definitely have at least seen the source code.

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echair
_maybe they even recoded it from scratch_

Even when Google _buys_ a startup they usually rewrite everything.

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wave
When I read about Panoramio (Google product) on TC today, I thought about how
similar it is with your product. I don't know how long Google has been working
on Panoramio, but I think you have a good product. Instead of closing the
project down, did you try to get funding and take your service to next level?

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cousin_it
I never wanted to earn money with this thing, it was conceived and started as
a non-profit. My number one goal was to see Sagrada Familia again, as it
should be seen. The other goal was to change people's minds, change the web,
open a new possibility. Win on both counts.

~~~
whacked_new
That's quite a spirit right there; great respect for that, and upmods won't
quite do justice. I salute you sir.

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kajecounterhack
Wow this is amazing. What many would do to have google use our code haha...
Congrats man.

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cousin_it
People are pointing out this is likely a rewrite. Fun, anyway.

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pistoriusp
I'm not a flash guy so I'm not sure about this, but isn't it possible to
decompile flash?

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cousin_it
No need, I released the source as GPL. It was legal for them to just take it.

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BrandonM
Hmm... very interesting. Flash is sent to the browser as a binary then, right?
The GPL says that any derived works which are distributed as binaries must
have the source code (including the changes) made available publicly.

Out of curiosity and to maintain the openness of open source software, it
might not be a bad idea to mention to Google that the app looks to use GPL
software and request to see the source. Of course, if they rewrote it, this is
a bit more complicated (a line-by-line rewrite, or an interface-based
rewrite?), but it might be worth a shot.

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cousin_it
I wouldn't want anyone to do that. It is a good thing that photo VR is
becoming mainstream.

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BrandonM
Yes, but it's also a good thing that open source software is becoming
mainstream. If companies are able to present someone else's open source work
as their own, without even giving any credit, it destroys a huge part of the
incentive for writing open source software in the first place (recognition).

I wasn't saying that the author should try to get the content taken down. I
was just saying that he deserves either:

(1) a clarification from Google saying that they liked the interface and did
an interface-based rewrite without consulting the his source code

-or-

(2) a release of the modified source code (as the GPL requires)

I'm not trying to stop photo VR from becoming mainstream. Since when does
open-sourcing something prevent it from becoming mainstream?

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redorb
kinda feel bad for the fellow, although to his admittance his only innovation
was some flash code. I wish him well in his 'for profit' venture

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cousin_it
Hey, I'm that fellow. Why feel bad? It's a win.

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sadiq
Just out of interest, have you thought much on how you'd go about doing
automatic matching?

Would it be feasible to use one of the SIFT implementations out there?

~~~
cousin_it
Yes, thought a lot, and coded a little. Main problem: sparse bundle adjustment
is slow and non-incremental. From what I hear, the same problem is delaying
the release of MS Photosynth. Maybe the answer is running SBA on small numbers
of user-supplied points rather than SIFT output. Maybe I'm just clueless.

