Simple Mobile Tools bought by ZipoApps?

[inson1]

https://www.reddit.com/r/SimpleMobileTools/comments/187w64x/simple_mobile_tools_bought_by_zipoapps/

[Aga-C]

What's going with this @tibbi @naveensingh ?

[naveensingh]

I can confirm it's true, but I don't have details on who, when, or where.

[tibbi]

ye, the sale is in process

[Aga-C]

As a regular contributor I'm very disappointed.

[mijorus]

Understandable, I'm sorry you couldn't find a suitable business model for this project. Thanks for your work in these years

[0verEngineer]

I hope ZipoApps understands that they cannot simply make the apps closed source and suck out the userbase because these apps are used by people that value the FOSS principles.
Otherwise the users will switch to real FOSS alternatives and/or the apps will be forked.

[tswistak]

I hope ZipoApps understands that they cannot simply make the apps closed source

That would violate the current license of all the apps. GPLv3 forbids it.

[moneytoo]

That would violate the current license of all the apps. GPLv3 forbids it.

The owner of the code still owns the copyright and can relicense the code under whatever license he/she wishes.

[tswistak]

The owner of the code still owns the copyright and can relicense the code under whatever license he/she wishes.

That's not as easy. There are a few things:

• https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html.en#Consider
• https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html.en#GPLInProprietarySystem (if apps use any external GPL libraries)
• https://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/270/is-it-possible-to-close-an-open-source-project

[ColorfulRhino]

Like many others, I am very disappointed about this move 😞

Not directly because of a sale, I can understand that you want money for your work. But because of who the apps are sold to.
This company ZipoApps seems to be mainly about quantity instead of quality, has lots of ad-ridden crapware in the PlayStore and does not adhere to privacy standards. All in all, most values of this company seem to completely contradict the values of SimpleMobile apps.

[cyrneko]

Another app lost to ZipoApps. They will add advertisements, trackers and more as they have done for other well-made apps that they've purchased in the past.

[afarah1]

Thank you for maintaining it thus far.

Since it's GPL I suppose anyone interested in maintaining it can simply fork and republish.

Until then, I disabled auto-update on PlayStore for the SimpleMobileTools apps I have.

[naveensingh]

Of course, the license allows the project to be forked and maintained and I would be happy to do so in my free time but I believe it's essential to honor @tibbi's decision. He's been tirelessly maintaining this project since it was created, it would only be fair if he gets to determine its future direction. I'll proceed with maintaining a fork only upon receiving a green light from @tibbi.

[BuZZ-dEE]

@naveensingh What do you mean by: "it would only be fair if he gets to determine its future direction."? The direction of the fork?

Why do you need green light from @tibbi ?

[naveensingh]

When I mentioned 'it would only be fair if he gets to determine its future direction' I was referring to the direction of the current project, not some forked version. As for seeking a green light from @tibbi, it's a courtesy to ensure that he's comfortable with the idea of someone else taking on the maintenance. Given his experience and commitment to the project, I want to make sure he approves before proceeding with the fork.