Google Open Sources Etherpad, Piratepad Launches

Thomas Nybergh writes "The Etherpad code was released by Google under the Apache license a few hours ago. Google's initial plan, after acquiring the service, was to use Etherpad's tech with its new Wave collaboration platform and to shut down the original service entirely. Soon after the Etherpad code was released, the Swedish Pirate Party launched their instance of the service at piratepad.net. An announcement, which also mentions a new Tor node, is published on the party website (Google translation). The original Etherpad service had in a short time become a killer application for collaborative work within at least the Swedish, and according to my personal experience, in the Finnish Pirate Party as well. The Etherpad open source project is available at Google Code."

EtherPad makes Google Wave look even worse

[Robotech_Master]

Small wonder they wanted to acquire AppJet to send its programmers to the Google Wave slave mines to make Wave work more like EtherPad. I'm tickled pink they went through with their pledge to open-source it, and did it so quickly.

Isn't it amazing? This is the code that was AppJet's entire revenue stream...and after Google bought them for ten million dollars, they're giving all that work away to the community, free.

You can argue all you want about whether Google is really evil or not, but either way it certainly has its non-evil moments.

Ubuntu One Killer App

[st1rguy]

If Canonical is serious about promoting their cloud platform this should be relatively easy for them to host and roll client access into their next desktop release. They could also host the server component in their repo to make it cake to install on internal servers as well. Wave without the "Google" would be awesome.

Re:Ubuntu One Killer App

[pydev]

Google got the better part of the product--the developers. Without good developers, the code is probably pretty much useless.

Re:Ubuntu One Killer App

[st1rguy]

Not necessarily true, Etherpad is pretty solid. If they shifted some of the dev talent away from their silly attempt to make a online music store to something genuinely useful like real-time collaboration i can see that working in their benefit, at least to business users.

Re:Pretty awesome

[ilovegeorgebush]

I was just thinking about how this is Google's answer to "acquire and assimilate" business practices. When Oracle or Microsoft do it it's murder, but when Google do it they Open Source the product then abandon the original.

Is this better?

Re:A hint as to buy-out reasoning.

[RedWizzard]

I would see Gmail's live chat feature being quite close in concept.

I don't. Being able to go back and edit what someone else has written previously is a fundamentally different concept IMO.

Etherpad Wiki?

[maxwell demon]

What about using EtherPad for Wikis? Seems the perfect match: The learning curve is lower than for current Wiki markup (and ease of editing was one point of Wikis, after all), the history function is already included, and since it's now Open Source, the missing functionality (especially Wiki links) could easily be added.

Excellent Summary

[glwtta]

I just have one tiny question after reading it: What the fuck is Etherpad?

Re:EtherPad makes Google Wave look even worse

[icebraining]

Not for long [slashdot.org].

Re:Huh? How is this better than wave... ?

[D Ninja]

Seems far superior to this Etherpad in every sense of the word.

Technically speaking, Wave is superior (I've used both). However, what makes Etherpad so popular is that it is easier to use. As of this time, Wave is still in Alpha mode, and while I get it, many tech friends who have tried to use it really don't understand the applicability of the software. They don't see it as a much better way to collaborate. They still want to stick to traditional e-mail for organization (which I hate, particularly when conversation threading and search is not available in e-mail).

So, Wave = Technically Stronger; Etherpad = Usability is Stronger. Add the good parts of the two together, and you get a much better project overall.

Re:EtherPad makes Google Wave look even worse

[Runaway1956]

Is there something wrong with the Apache license? I'm really not up on the nuances of open source licensing - but I thought Apache was "good". A lot like the BSD license, right? You're allowed to make money with the software, but you can't lock the software away. This is good, in my book. Money isn't the determining factor in my book (gratis), but the freedom to use the software (libre).

Re:Pretty awesome

[Aldenissin]

Could this be good legislation to implement and curb or eliminate the Embrace=>Extend=>Extinguish business practices?

When you buy out a company that makes software, you must open source the current code. This would make companies more valuable standalone and increase competition, and also allow those that should die off to die off. If another company does wish to invest, competition is still there since the code is now open source.

Re:Pretty awesome

[mr_da3m0n]

I this the parent's point was that a company acquiring another would have to either keep developping or support the target company's assets, or Open Source them instead of burying them in a shallow grave, never to be heard of again. Which would be a Good Thing (tm).

Re:Pretty awesome

[SharpFang]

It doesn't have to mean "lose all the software to the public".

More like "create a public open branch of whatever was created to this day".
Also, "open source" doesn't have to mean "free as a beer". You can grab the code, tamper with it, compile it, but to use it for anything meaningful you have to purchase a license, and to redistribute your modified code you must purchase a redistribution license, sending a part of your profit upstream.

Not just piratepad.net - I also see uxoo.com !

[goneforaslash]

There is also uxoo.com [uxoo.com]. Free software at its best - other websites will certainly follow.

Hopefully all these competing services will do to good old plain text edition something just as great as youtube did to videos.

Start the competition!