Teen Coder Shuts Down Open Source Mac App Whisky, Citing Harm To Paid Apps (arstechnica.com) 15
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Whisky, a gaming-focused front-end for Wine's Windows compatibility tools on macOS, is no longer receiving updates. As one of the most useful and well-regarded tools in a Mac gamer's toolkit, it could be seen as a great loss, but its developer hopes you'll move on with what he considers a better option: supporting CodeWeavers' CrossOver product.
Also, Whisky's creator is an 18-year-old college student, and he could use a break. "I am 18, yes, and attending Northeastern University, so it's always a balancing act between my school work and dev work," Isaac Marovitz wrote to Ars. The Whisky project has "been more or less in this state for a few months, I posted the notice mostly to clarify and formally announce it," Marovitz said, having received "a lot of questions" about the project status. [...] "Whisky, in my opinion, has not been a positive on the Wine community as a whole," Marovitz wrote on the Whisky site.
He advised that Whisky users buy a CrossOver license, and noted that while CodeWeavers and Valve's work on Proton have had a big impact on the Wine project, "the amount that Whisky as a whole contributes to Wine is practically zero." Fixes for Wine running Mac games "have to come from people who are not only incredibly knowledgeable on C, Wine, Windows, but also macOS," Marovitz wrote, and "the pool of developers with those skills is very limited." While Marovitz told Ars that he's had "some contact with CodeWeavers" in making Whisky, "they were always curious and never told me what I should or should not do." It became clear to him, though, "from what [CodeWeavers] could tell me as well as observing the attitude of the wider community that Whisky could seriously threaten CrossOver's viability." "Whisky may have been a CrossOver competitor, but that's not how we feel today," wrote CodeWeavers CEO James B. Ramey in a statement. "Our response is simply one of empathy, understanding, and acknowledgement for Isaac's situation."
Also, Whisky's creator is an 18-year-old college student, and he could use a break. "I am 18, yes, and attending Northeastern University, so it's always a balancing act between my school work and dev work," Isaac Marovitz wrote to Ars. The Whisky project has "been more or less in this state for a few months, I posted the notice mostly to clarify and formally announce it," Marovitz said, having received "a lot of questions" about the project status. [...] "Whisky, in my opinion, has not been a positive on the Wine community as a whole," Marovitz wrote on the Whisky site.
He advised that Whisky users buy a CrossOver license, and noted that while CodeWeavers and Valve's work on Proton have had a big impact on the Wine project, "the amount that Whisky as a whole contributes to Wine is practically zero." Fixes for Wine running Mac games "have to come from people who are not only incredibly knowledgeable on C, Wine, Windows, but also macOS," Marovitz wrote, and "the pool of developers with those skills is very limited." While Marovitz told Ars that he's had "some contact with CodeWeavers" in making Whisky, "they were always curious and never told me what I should or should not do." It became clear to him, though, "from what [CodeWeavers] could tell me as well as observing the attitude of the wider community that Whisky could seriously threaten CrossOver's viability." "Whisky may have been a CrossOver competitor, but that's not how we feel today," wrote CodeWeavers CEO James B. Ramey in a statement. "Our response is simply one of empathy, understanding, and acknowledgement for Isaac's situation."
Problem 1 for the "Open Source Is Better" movement (Score:5, Insightful)
... demonstrated yet again. For a given "Open Source" project, you're at the mercy of whoever's spare time and hobbyist attention. Worse yet, the end can and will come with belated notice or entirely without notice.
Note that he's pushing people toward a product that's $74/year for "support" or $450+ for a "lifetime" subscription. The cynic in me says, someone just got a freeride scholarship or a "job offer once you finish your degree as long as you kill the opensource thing that competes with us" at CodeWeavers.
Re: Problem 1 for the "Open Source Is Better" move (Score:3)
...so... how is that different from being at the mercy of whatever commercial entity happened to sell the product, for a commercial software product?
Except with FOSS, when push comes to shovel, you still have the source and the right to work on it. With commercial software, if the vendor decides to "go in a different direction", you're royally fucked even if you're able to muster up enough knowledge and manpower to scratch thay itch of yours yourself. Because.you're simply not even allowed to, wo begin with
Re: Problem 1 for the "Open Source Is Better" move (Score:2)
Oh, and:
or $450+ for a "lifetime" subscription.
...actually just translates to something like "next Tuesday" if that's what the commercial entity shipping the product feels like.
You have absolutely zero standing in requiring that someone, anyone, develops or even allows you to use the product 6 months from now, if they don't feel like continuing developmen.
"Lifetime" my ass.
Solution1 for the "Open Source Is Better" movement (Score:2)
Other than for closed products, someone can continue the development.
Re: Problem 1 for the "Open Source Is Better" move (Score:2)
That or he simply doesn't have time or motivation (or a combination of the two) to maintain it. That inevitably happens at some point unless somebody pays you. This is news to nobody.
Besides, open source work is pretty thankless, and, for most code, rarely does you any favors. I wrote an open source tool for binding key buttons to razer mice without needing their shit 700mb cloud connected, adware laden driver. I linked it to Reddit years back, and literally the first response I got was "this is pointless,
Re: (Score:1)
Re: Problem 1 for the "Open Source Is Better" move (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If you have a really niche problem you are normally really exposed to risk from your supplier because there's not necessarily enough business in solving your problem to sustain redundancy or make the niche a compelling one to stay in. If it's an OSS tool you are at risk of being left to your own devices with a last compiled version and a pile of code you may or may not be able to work with. If it's some sort of proprietary freeware or oddball license you'll be
Re: (Score:2)
Note that he's pushing people toward a product that's $74/year for "support" or $450+ for a "lifetime" subscription.
As someone that has paid for it, though not currently, I want to clarify the pricing slightly. If you buy it at $74, it does cover a year of updates and support. You will continue to have access, including re-downloading, to the last version released during that year. They also offer a discount on renewals as long as you don't lapse. The discount does adjust when the price adjusts. When it was $60, the discount was $30 off. At $74, the discount was $40 off.
Elegant way to bow out, essentially... (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't fault this guy a bit. He's just an 18 year old student who needs to get out there and live life. He doesn't need to feel chained to hundreds of email complaints or feature requests for a piece of software he just did as a labor of love for a while until he got bored with it.
Redirecting people to an alternative product that's still getting regular updates (even if it's a commercial one) is a nice way to exit the scene while making those competing developers respect you. (After this guy graduates college, he might be happy he left some of those people feeling positive about him. It's a small world and it could help him get hired on someplace.)
Among the cult of Apple... (Score:2)
Propreritary software relies on bad open software (Score:2)
No Longer Very Useful Anyway (Score:2)
These Windows emulators for the Mac like Crossover, Wine, and Parallels are no longer useful for any Windows apps where performance is important. They relied on an Intel CPU to get good performance, but the days of Intel Macs are over.
Mac's (Score:2)