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about other portableapps site (LiberKey)

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ahmedawy
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about other portableapps site (LiberKey)

any idea about this

[link to illegal software site removed by mod JTH]

the forum is french the have many property software is it legal ?

Tim Clark
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They are questionable

They are questionable, or at least they were a year ago, things might have changed since then:

Avoid LiberKey
https://portableapps.com/node/8669#comment-86596

If they have changed, sorry about that, but my view is once questionable, always questionable Sad

Tim

Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?

John T. Haller
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Avoid LiberKey

It looks like they're repackaging most of that freeware without permission. And they're using the trademarks of Google, Mozilla, Opera and many others in connection with modified software, also apparently without permission, which isn't permitted by any of the trademark guidelines I've seen. They distribute GPL/LGPL/etc software (OpenOffice.org, VLC, Miranda, etc) without also distributing the source as required by the license. And, yes, they ripped off our launchers for about a year, violated the GPL and our copyright, refused to distribute the source, refused to acknowledge the cease and desist we sent them and then lied about it on PortableFreeware.com and, if I recall, other websites (to date, they still refuse to own up to this).

On the functionality side, their main platform is just ASuite (another open source menu) and CAFE (an open source file associator) made by others. Their launchers are closed source, now written in Visual Basic 6 (yes, really), huge (about 1MB), buggy (leave things behind, etc) and have their settings files obfuscated so you, as an end user, aren't allowed to see what they do. The site lists no contact or legal information anywhere. And their updater is closed source and requires you to give them your email address.

So, they're definitely doing things they should not be and are very likely still doing illegal stuff like they were doing last year. It should definitely be avoided.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Ed_P
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hmmmmm

One has to wonder why the owners of the illegally used apps don't sue the owners of the website and force them to comply with their trademark laws and etc. Google and Mozilla certainly have the financial capability to do so.

Maybe they don't feel it's a big enough issue to fight over.

Ed

BlackHell
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I sometimes use such sites to

I sometimes use such sites to check if theres any other programm that i could need portable. Then i take a look at the real homepage to see if it has a portable version to download. If not i'm searching a zip download to unpack it on my stick and to start it over the menue. If it works i had what i wanted. If not i can use the Portable Installer to try to make it portable if the license let me do such things.

PS: Sorry for my bad german Wink

Signatur? Signatur? Welche Signatur?

Hasle
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Me too!

I sometimes use such sites to check if theres any other programm that i could need portable.

That looks like an excellent idea! Let us know if you find something interesting!

erzielin
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Joined: 2007-09-29 16:18
I had no idea about Liberkey - no more for me

I had no idea of the practices of the Liberkey developers. It's very good to know about this - free and open source software is a benefit to all, but if people don't respect the developers and their work by following the rules, that endangers the health and vitality of the entire free/OSS community.

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