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Be prepared to have Stephen Wolfram pull all the stops in order to destroy your project. He didn't get rich by letting free competition flourish you know. EDIT

Be prepared to have Stephen Wolfram pull all the stops in order to destroy your project. He didn't get rich by letting free competition flourish you know. EDIT: I downloaded the source just in case the author receives an offer he can't refuse.

techgipper 7y ago
The developer works at Wolfram, just FYI. https://medium.com/@poeschko https://medium.com/@poeschko
- ErotemeObelus 7y ago
  He should double-check his contract to see if there's an "anything you do either inside or outside of Wolfram Inc. is automatically our property" clause. Stephen Wolfram knows about this. He just hasn't taken action yet.
  - techgipper 7y ago
    So, he's just been sitting around for several years just waiting to "take action" ... doesn't really make sense. I'd also like to think that Jan Poeschko is smart enough to read a contract.
    - steve19 7y ago
      It's all well and good until someone forks it and tries to compete with mathamatica.
      - techgipper 7y ago
        Is that a dare? :)
      - jVinc 7y ago
        That's like saying Apple should be afraid someone straps a microphone to a raspberry pi and starts competing with the iPhone.
        steve19 7y ago
        If the designer of the rpi works for Apple, the rpi is designed to work like an iPhone and apple. Probably owns the rpi ip the best yes its EXACTLY the same.
    - ErotemeObelus 7y ago
      He'll take action when he determines that it's dangerous. Nobody except for police officers takes action as soon as they know about a problem.
    - inflatableDodo 7y ago
      >So, he's just been sitting around for several years just waiting to "take action" ... doesn't really make sense. It takes ages to grow the sharks to full size, even with the extra heat from the volcano.
  - amluto 7y ago
    If he’s in California, then the automatic exclusions are reasonably strong.
    - bitwize 7y ago
      If he's in the United States, API copyrightability kicks in.
carlob 7y ago
1. This project has existed for quite some time and nobody has sued them 2. The originator of this (Jan Poetschko) has worked at Wolfram for several years now 3. I think at least a number of people at Wolfram understand that Octave has been an asset (or gateway drug if you prefer) for Matlab, rather than a threat
- ErotemeObelus 7y ago
  I never said sue. I said pull all the stops to make the project and the developer go away (or coopt it). Maybe that includes suing but probably not given how expensive lawsuits are. Usually companies are intelligent enough to use tactics that has the greatest likelihood of success: mafioso tactics. The developer won't, in all likelihood receive a lawsuit. He'll be given an offer he can't refuse.
- hopscotch 7y ago
  Wolfram don't make matlab. They make Mathematica.
  - rfrey 7y ago
    I think it was meant as an analogy.
williamstein 7y ago
Maybe Wolfram already effectively killed this project. It was actively developed for about 5 years (see https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors), then Wolfram Inc. hired the lead developer 2 years ago, and basically all worked stopped...
- ErotemeObelus 7y ago
  It appears as if my warning bore out then. It's a good thing they didn't pull the plug on the github page. Now it's possible for someone to carry the torch.
- marchairthiel 7y ago
  Maybe Wolfram paid him $1 billion for the project...the possibilities are endless...
- delhanty 7y ago
  I'm confused. The lead developer up until 2 years ago, Angus Griffith's LinkedIn says he's at Google. [0] In April 2016, Angus replied to a comment of mine "Mathics is still maintained. There are currently two of us working on it. The last release was v0.9 in March this year." [1]. The original creator Jan Pöschko's GitHub profile states "JavaScripter making the notebook interface of wolframcloud.com" [2]. His bulk contributions to Mathics stopped in 2012, but he still makes sporadic contributions to Mathics - see here he merged a pull request March 2019 [3] - suggests Wolfram tolerate the existence of Mathics because it's not a serious threat. As the creator of Sage, what's your opinion of the legal risks of creating a Mathematica syntax compatible clone like Mathics in the light of Wolfram Research's fairly aggressive assertion of its IP "rights"? [0] https://www.linkedin.com/in/angus-griffith-093433b0/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/angus-griffith-093433b0/ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11465064 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11465064 [2] https://github.com/poeschko https://github.com/poeschko [3] https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/commits?author=poeschko&since=2019-02-28&until=2019-03-31 https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/commits?author=poeschko&s...
  - bloaf 7y ago

techgipper 7y ago

The developer works at Wolfram, just FYI. https://medium.com/@poeschko https://medium.com/@poeschko

ErotemeObelus 7y ago
He should double-check his contract to see if there's an "anything you do either inside or outside of Wolfram Inc. is automatically our property" clause. Stephen Wolfram knows about this. He just hasn't taken action yet.
- techgipper 7y ago
  So, he's just been sitting around for several years just waiting to "take action" ... doesn't really make sense. I'd also like to think that Jan Poeschko is smart enough to read a contract.
  - steve19 7y ago
    It's all well and good until someone forks it and tries to compete with mathamatica.
    - techgipper 7y ago
      Is that a dare? :)
    - jVinc 7y ago
      That's like saying Apple should be afraid someone straps a microphone to a raspberry pi and starts competing with the iPhone.
      - steve19 7y ago
        If the designer of the rpi works for Apple, the rpi is designed to work like an iPhone and apple. Probably owns the rpi ip the best yes its EXACTLY the same.
  - ErotemeObelus 7y ago
    He'll take action when he determines that it's dangerous. Nobody except for police officers takes action as soon as they know about a problem.
  - inflatableDodo 7y ago
    >So, he's just been sitting around for several years just waiting to "take action" ... doesn't really make sense. It takes ages to grow the sharks to full size, even with the extra heat from the volcano.
- amluto 7y ago
  If he’s in California, then the automatic exclusions are reasonably strong.
  - bitwize 7y ago
    If he's in the United States, API copyrightability kicks in.

carlob 7y ago

1. This project has existed for quite some time and nobody has sued them 2. The originator of this (Jan Poetschko) has worked at Wolfram for several years now 3. I think at least a number of people at Wolfram understand that Octave has been an asset (or gateway drug if you prefer) for Matlab, rather than a threat

ErotemeObelus 7y ago
I never said sue. I said pull all the stops to make the project and the developer go away (or coopt it). Maybe that includes suing but probably not given how expensive lawsuits are. Usually companies are intelligent enough to use tactics that has the greatest likelihood of success: mafioso tactics. The developer won't, in all likelihood receive a lawsuit. He'll be given an offer he can't refuse.
hopscotch 7y ago
Wolfram don't make matlab. They make Mathematica.
- rfrey 7y ago
  I think it was meant as an analogy.

williamstein 7y ago

Maybe Wolfram already effectively killed this project. It was actively developed for about 5 years (see https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/graphs/contributors), then Wolfram Inc. hired the lead developer 2 years ago, and basically all worked stopped...

ErotemeObelus 7y ago
It appears as if my warning bore out then. It's a good thing they didn't pull the plug on the github page. Now it's possible for someone to carry the torch.
marchairthiel 7y ago
Maybe Wolfram paid him $1 billion for the project...the possibilities are endless...
delhanty 7y ago
I'm confused. The lead developer up until 2 years ago, Angus Griffith's LinkedIn says he's at Google. [0] In April 2016, Angus replied to a comment of mine "Mathics is still maintained. There are currently two of us working on it. The last release was v0.9 in March this year." [1]. The original creator Jan Pöschko's GitHub profile states "JavaScripter making the notebook interface of wolframcloud.com" [2]. His bulk contributions to Mathics stopped in 2012, but he still makes sporadic contributions to Mathics - see here he merged a pull request March 2019 [3] - suggests Wolfram tolerate the existence of Mathics because it's not a serious threat. As the creator of Sage, what's your opinion of the legal risks of creating a Mathematica syntax compatible clone like Mathics in the light of Wolfram Research's fairly aggressive assertion of its IP "rights"? [0] https://www.linkedin.com/in/angus-griffith-093433b0/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/angus-griffith-093433b0/ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11465064 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11465064 [2] https://github.com/poeschko https://github.com/poeschko [3] https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/commits?author=poeschko&since=2019-02-28&until=2019-03-31 https://github.com/mathics/Mathics/commits?author=poeschko&s...
- bloaf 7y ago