Who owns apps?

Hi. I've got an idea to improve one of the current apps, but I'm not really sure what process is.

Do I just open a PR?
Do I open an issue first?
Do I need to discuss with the original developer or, once their app is added, do they not have any more say than anyone else?

Is it ultimatly down to @Gordon if my changes are approved?

Thanks.

Hi!

The License for the apps you submit will be MIT, so basically they're fair game to do whatever anyone wants with.

Do I just open a PR?

Yep, that's fine :)

Do I open an issue first?

No need. If you're unsure and would like input, you can mark your PR as a 'Draft'

Do I need to discuss with the original developer or, once their app is added, do they not have any more say than anyone else?

I think if there's anything that you think might be problematic, I'd ask them.

Basically if it's a fix or a minor tweak then great, just submit it - but if it's adding a lot of stuff it might be worth poking the original submitted first. Worst case you can just submit it as a different app though :)

Is it ultimatly down to @Gordon if my changes are approved?

Yep - for now at least :)

Great! Hopefully I'll be able to work on something in the next week or so. Thanks.

I wonder if this needs a little more thought. Usually the creator will always posses and manage the original source in their own repo, no matter how its licensed. But here it is relinquished to the community immediately, where the original vision can change at whim through the community (through no bad intentions, but everyone likes something slightly different).

I think this ultimately would be a bad thing for the app-store, where over time apps become more platypus and less the original duck.

For example: I wrote the Mario Clock watch face. It is designed to mimic the classic Gameboy design (low res graphics and grey-scale colours). Someone could come along with very good intentions (and probably better skill) and make changes to make the graphics: high-res, 3D, and full colour, like on Mario Kart or something. This would ruin the watch face for anyone that loves the intended retro Gameboy Mario look, but make a different set of people happy. Thus conflict.

I wouldn't know how you'd manage that problem.

Just my ten-cents, my fear is more to do with success of the app-store and its apps.

Right now I hope I (or other admins) will be able to apply some sanity to the process.

The issue I've had with hosting stuff elsewhere is there's a really high likelihood that:

• Stuff gets committed that breaks an app and it can take a while to get it fixed
  
• An app stops being maintained and some big issue doesn't get fixed.
  
• We need to make a change to Bangle.js firmware and then modify all affected apps (as just happened with HID), and would be totally unable to do that if they were in different repos.
  
  

This has been an issue with Espruino modules (eg TinyMQTT - there's a bug, I have a fix reported, but it's been sitting there for months waiting to go in).

There are obviously good and bad points for each method.

I think in the case you're thinking about, if there were any complaints then we'd just back out the changes and move them into a separate app. All the history is there so nothing is going to get irreparably lost - and hopefully we'll add a rating system soon so having a bunch of similar apps won't be a big deal. You'll just be able to see which one was the preferred one.

Thr 2020.04.30

Hi @PaulC, I agree with you and hinted about this (Edit: in post #2) a month ago.

License of Apps   post #2  Can of Worms

EDIT: Fri 2020.05.01
orig: License of Apps - Can of Worms

Post #7 that follows makes a reference that could be mis-understood. I modified the link above to provide credit to the thread originator. My comment was a response to that post.

Legal issues aside, as the number of apps increases, the ability to keep pace as @Gordon points out will be near impossible.

The best solution as I see it, is to have an ongoing contest to inspire enthusiasm and competition for top slot, that is voted on by the community, but approved by a core group of the Espruino team. Allow the top ten and top twenty to be part of the 'approved' downloadable suite if you will, that are maintained. Also provide a link to a remote third party site maintained by ??? that may work, but not approved.

In this manner, control is maintained as the app/widget volume won't get out of hand, and it allows free tinkering along with the ability to allow others to charge a fee for their efforts if they so choose. (re license choices)

And who doesn't mind creating a stir on the web to get the excitement juices going with a contest!? That alone should bring eyeballs to the Bangle page to bump sales. Having a separate site with unique IP addr removes the investors from the legal issues outlined from comments in the link above.

Hi @Robin, Yes I guess that might be a solution going forward, as we all hope the BangleCraze will take off soon, but that will lead to a flood of app submissions and as you point out that may bring a ton of issues.

@Gordon has really hit the nail on the head with the Bangle App store. I hope schools pick up on it, as I think this would get kids buzzing.. no soldering, electronics theory or easy to swallow components, just a chunky watch, a bit of JavaScript, and imagination. All other IOT projects can only really end up as lengthy blogs, and private implementations.

Back to the point tho, You raise good issues in your can-of-worms thread. I can't remember but did Pebble have a community app store, can we get hold of any ex-engineers to see what they did from a legal point of view etc?

This really isn't my area of expertise so I can't chip in.