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Stop Copying HelloSign: An Open Letter to DocuSign CEO, Keith Krach (hellosign.com)
7 points by burnout1540 on Dec 16, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments


> 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?


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 :)


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.




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