Personal Blog

Looking through the Joomla New Extensions feed last night, I saw a new extension named Profiler. Can you believe it? - Profiler - the name I'd given one of my apps which is still in development. Of course, I was initially worried that someone had released my extension as their own - but that doesn't appear to be the case.

This Profiler extension is the biggest steaming pile of crap I've ever seen. Not only does it barely work (in some cases - it dies with a PHP Fatal Error), but it actually perpetuates some of the things that Community Builder has done - in the worst way. So, after spending an hour or so going through the source code to verify that it isn't my code - I came to realize that only the name was stolen.... and pissed on - thoroughly.

So, since my code is safe, I'm taking the things I've learned and rewriting it into a new extension with a new name - a secret name.

... isn't necessarily good for the wallet.

At the end of April, I was laid off from the Dallas Independent School District. I wasn't alone, 202 other people were laid off, including my entire department. Many things can be said about the layoffs, and many are well covered in the comments in the article I linked, so I won't go into further detail... It was a great job and I'll miss it and the people I worked with.

Since then, I've been sending out my resume and applying to local companies and doing almost everything possible to avoid taking any unemployment assistance. I say almost because I've turned down several development requests in the last few weeks. Rather than compromise my ideals, I'm choosing to keep my conscience clear and turn down jobs that would require me to write software for use in the porn or gambling industries. Don't get me wrong, I don't pass judgement on anyone - that's not my place. I think everyone is entitled to exercise their free-will, but I don't want to have any part of some activities.

This has happened to me only twice, but it concerns me nonetheless. Both times, I have decided to post as AC (Anonymous Coward) because of the controversial nature of my comments. Both times, I challenged mainstream opinion with statements by the accepted authorities. Both times, within an hour, my post vanished.

I'm a little torn... I've been participating with the Slashdot community for years, and I'd like to continue because it's "News for Nerds" and I claim that category. On the other hand, I'm 100% against censorship. I'm sure that my participation won't change their policies or practices, and I'm equally sure that they don't make any money from me (I never click ads - ever).

Update: I haven't visited Slashdot in several years. Their slow transition from "News for Nerds" to "Ads, Censorship and Slashvertisements" has caused me to shop for my nerd news elsewhere. Congratulations CNet - you've ruined another one.

That's what they say, but it still bothers me a bit.

I've been writing free extensions for Joomla for a while now. There is one criteria that must be met before I'll write a Joomla extension:

1. No free extension currently exists that does the same thing

It's pretty simple.

If I'm writing a free version of an existing commercial extension, I specifically avoid the commercial extension so that my code is absolutely unique and doesn't violate any copyrights.

So, this afternoon I was looking through the new extensions and found "Awo Email Login" by Seyi Awofadeju, or should I say - copied by Seyi Awofadeju. After downloading the Awo Email Login extension and comparing the code to my Authentication - Email extension, I found that Seyi had basically deleted the language files and changed a couple of variable names and released it as his own. Seriously, it's 100% identical to the code I released over a month earlier.

Update 10-12-2011:

Seyi Awofadeju has brought it to my attention that he, in fact, released a version of his plugin in a forum a little over two weeks prior to the release of my plugin. He pointed out that both are based on a core Joomla plugin, and that he was offended by my accusation. I can admit that I was wrong in making the accusation, and I appologize. I'm sorry Seyi.

Then, I found Secure Authentication by Michael Epstein J. I'm not as upset about this extension, because the code is distinct from my own AdminExile extension. I don't agree with his methods, but they're effective and accomplish the same thing as my extension released over a month earlier.

OK, I'm finished with my rant.