let me open my teeth and cradle you there

RL Dolcett, anyone? Ergh.

Back on the 3rd, I spoke on a viewer controversy that's been brewing for some time. Earlier (as in, I past-dated it so it could be boring back in January), I linked Kirsten's initial EULA and credits in full. This had to be agreed to before I even downloaded the viewer. The CoolVL viewer was just a simple install, nothing overly complicated about it.

Then I opened each viewer in turn, on the grid.

(from the bizarre album)

The first thing "Blackbird" told me was that my outfit didn't exist. Which was strange to me, as I could clearly see my outfit, and it was the same one I'd been wearing the last time I logged in with Singularity. Odd.

Then I went looking for the 'About' tab. It's not under Help, first of all; it's under the 'S19' tab itself:

(from the bizarre album)

Henri is correct, no specific authors are listed other than KirstenLee Cinquetti under this tab.

(from the bizarre album)

How'ver, under the 'Licenses & Copyrights' tab, there's this. Which looks fairly official with all bases covered, to me. Unless Henri is claiming that he, himself, coded his viewer entirely by hand, with no help from any other code source, what Kirsten seems to have done is credit the original (hence, first) coder for purposes of licensing--then left off anyone else who might have had a hand in redoing the code, either in sections or in whole.

There's a further point at the bottom of that tab, to see "licenses.txt" for more information, but I can't seem to find that anywhere within the program files.

I had no warning that this viewer was infested with malware, adware or a virus, but I don't use the same program Henri uses to detect those sorts of things.

I then popped open the latest CoolVL build. I got a EULA agreement there, too:

(from the bizarre album)

Simple, fairly succinct, and to the point. Also, no virus warning either when I installed it, or when I ran it (not that I expected to see one).

(from the bizarre album)

Then I went looking for the 'About' feature for CoolVL. I begin to see his point, because whereas the Kirsten viewer just credits KirstenLee Cinquetti for everything, Henri Beauchamp credits anyone who might have stared at the code for five minutes:

The Cool VL Viewer is brought to you and maintained by Henri Beauchamp.

Special credits:

The Cool VL Viewer MacOS-X builds are courtesy of Hyang Zhao (v1.25 and former), Guru Coyote (v1.26.0 to v1.26.4) and Kathrine Jansma (v1.26.4 and later).
The Cool VL Viewer logo (Burning Ice) is courtesy of Amari Kanto.

Coders:

99% of the code in this viewer was written by Lindens (Philip, Tessa, Andrew, Cory, James, Ben, Char, Charlie, Colin, Dan, Daniel, Doug, Eric, Hamlet, Haney, Eve, Hunter, Ian, Jeff, Jennifer, Jim, John, Lee, Mark, Peter, Phoenix, Richard, Robin, Xenon, Steve, Tanya, Eddie, Avi, Frank, Bruce, Aaron, Alice, Bob, Debra, Eileen, Helen, Janet, Louie, Leviathania, Stefan, Ray, Kevin, Tom, Mikeb, MikeT, Burgess, Elena, Tracy, Bill, Todd, Ryan, Zach, Sarah, Nova, Tim, Stephanie, Michael, Evan, Nicolas, Catherine, Rachelle, Dave, Holly, Bub, Kelly, Magellan, Ramzi, Don, Sabin, Jill, Rheya, Jeska, Torley, Kona, Callum, Charity, Ventrella, Jack, Vektor, Iris, Chris, Nicole, Mick, Reuben, Blue, Babbage, Yedwab, Deana, Lauren, Brent, Pathfinder, Chadrick, Altruima, Jesse, Teeny, Monroe, Icculus, David, Tess, Lizzie, Patsy, Isaac, Lawrence, Cyn, Bo, Gia, Annette, Marius, Tbone, Jonathan, Karen, Ginsu, Satoko, Yuko, Makiko, Thomas, Harry, Seth, Alexei, Brian, Guy, Runitai, Ethan, Data, Cornelius, Kenny, Swiss, Zero, Natria, Wendy, Stephen, Teeple, Thumper, Lucy, Dee, Mia, Liana, Warren, Branka, Aura, beez, Milo, Hermia, Red, Thrax, Joe, Sally, Magenta, Mogura, Paul, Jose, Rejean, Henrik, Lexie, Amber, Logan, Xan, Nora, Morpheus, Donovan, Leyla, MichaelFrancis, Beast, Cube, Bucky, Joshua, Stryfe, Harmony, Teresa, Claudia, Walker, Glenn, Fritz, Fordak, June, Cleopetra, Jean, Ivy, Betsy, Roosevelt, Spike, Ken, Which, Tofu, Chiyo, Rob, Zee, dustin, George, Del, Matthew, Cat, Jacqui, Lightfoot, Adrian, Viola, Alfred, Noel, Irfan, Sunil, Yool, Rika, Jane, Xtreme, Frontier, a2, Neo, Siobhan, Yoz, Justin, Elle, Qarl, Benjamin, Isabel, Gulliver, Everett, Christopher, Izzy, Stephany, Garry, Sejong, Sean, Tobin, Iridium, Meta, Anthony, Jeremy, JP, Jake, Maurice, Madhavi, Leopard, Kyle, Joon, Kari, Bert, Belinda, Jon, Kristi, Bridie, Pramod, KJ, Socrates, Maria, Ivan, Aric, Yamasaki, Adreanne, Jay, MitchK, Ceren, Coco, Durl, Jenny, Periapse, Kartic, Storrs, Lotte, Sandy, Rohn, Colossus, Zen, BigPapi, Brad, Pastrami, Kurz, Mani, Neuro, Jaime, MJ, Rowan, Sgt, Elvis, Gecko, Samuel, Sardonyx, Leo, Bryan, Niko, Soft, Poppy, Rachel, Aki, Angelo, Banzai, Alexa, Sue, CeeLo, Bender, CG, Gillian, Pelle, Nick, Echo, Zara, Christine, Shamiran, Emma, Blake, Keiko, Plexus, Joppa, Sidewinder, Erica, Ashlei, Twilight, Kristen, Brett, Q, Enus, Simon, Bevis, Kraft, Kip, Chandler, Ron, LauraP, Ram, KyleJM, Scouse, Prospero, Melissa, Marty, Nat, Hamilton, Kend, Lordan, Jimmy, Kosmo, Seraph, Green, Ekim, Wiggo, JT, Rome, Doris, Miz, Benoc, Whump, Trinity, Patch, Kate, TJ, Bao, Joohwan, Christy, Sofia, Matias, Cogsworth, Johan, Oreh, Cheah, Angela, Brandy, Mango, Lan, Aleks, Gloria, Heidy, Mitchell, Space, Colton, Bambers, Einstein, Maggie, Malbers, Rose, Winnie, Stella, Milton, Rothman, Niall, Marin, Allison, Katie, Dawn, Katt, Dusty, Kalpana, Judy, Andrea, Ambroff, Infinity, Gail, Rico, Raymond, Yi, William, Christa, M, Teagan, Scout, Molly, Dante, Corr, Dynamike, Usi, Kaylee, Vidtuts, Lil, Danica, Sascha, Kelv, Jacob, Nya, Rodney, Brandon, Elsie, Blondin, Grant, Katrin, Nyx, Gabriel, Locklainn, Claire, Devin, Minerva, Monty, Austin, Bradford, Si, Keira, H, Caitlin, Dita, Makai, Jenn, Ann, Meredith, Clare, Joy, Praveen, Cody, Edmund, Ruthe, Sirena, Gayathri, Spider, FJ, Davidoff, Tian, Jennie, Louise, Oskar, Landon, Noelle, Jarv, Ingrid, Al, Sommer, Doc, Aria, Huin, Gray, Lili, Vir, DJ, Yang, T, Simone, Maestro, Scott, Charlene, Quixote, Amanda, Susan, Zed, Anne, Enkidu, Esbee, Joroan, Katelin, Roxie, Tay, Scarlet, Kevin, Johnny, Wolfgang, Andren, Bob, Howard, Merov, Rand, Ray, Michon, Newell, Galen, Dessie, Les, Michon, Jenelle, Geo, Siz, Shapiro, Pete, Calyle, Selene, Allen, Phoebe, Goldin, Kimmora, Dakota, Slaton, Lindquist, Zoey, Hari, Othello, Rohit, Sheldon, Petra, Viale, Gordon, Kaye, Pink, Ferny, Emerson, Davy, Bri, Chan, Juan, Robert, Terrence, Nathan, Carl and many others). The Snowglobe branch of the SL viewer includes source code contributions of the following residents: Able Whitman, Adam Marker, Admiral Admiral, Agathos Frascati, Aimee Trescothick, Alejandro Rosenthal, Aleric Inglewood, Alissa Sabre, Angus Boyd, Ann Congrejo, Archimedes Plutonian, Ardy Lay, Argent Stonecutter, Armin Weatherwax, Asuka Neely, Balp Allen, Be Holder, Benja Kepler, Biancaluce Robbiani, Blakar Ogre, blino Nakamura, Boroondas Gupte, Bulli Schumann, bushing Spatula, Carjay McGinnis, Catherine Pfeffer, Celierra Darling, Cron Stardust, Cypren Christenson, Dale Glass, Drewan Keats, Dylan Haskell, Dzonatas Sol, Eddy Stryker, EponymousDylan Ra, Eva Nowicka, Farallon Greyskin, Feep Larsson, Flemming Congrejo, Fluf Fredriksson, Fremont Cunningham, Geneko Nemeth, Gigs Taggart, Ginko Bayliss, Grazer Kline, Gudmund Shepherd, Hamncheese Omlet, HappySmurf Papp, Henri Beauchamp, Hikkoshi Sakai, Hiro Sommambulist, Hoze Menges, Ian Kas, Irene Muni, Iskar Ariantho, Jacek Antonelli, JB Kraft, Joghert LeSabre, Kage Pixel, Ken March, Kerutsen Sellery, Khyota Wulluf, Kitty Barnett, Kunnis Basiat, Latif Khalifa, Lisa Lowe, Lockhart Cordoso, maciek marksman, Magnus Balczo, Malwina Dollinger, march Korda, Matthew Dowd, McCabe Maxsted, Michelle2 Zenovka, Mm Alder, Mr Greggan, Nicholaz Beresford, Nounouch Hapmouche, Patric Mills, Paul Churchill, Paula Innis, Pixel Gausman, Peekay Semyorka, Peter Lameth, Pf Shan, princess niven, Renault Clio, resu Ampan, Ringo Tuxing, Robin Cornelius, Ryozu Kojima, Salahzar Stenvaag, Sammy Frederix, Scrippy Scofield, Seg Baphomet, Sergen Davies, Shawn Kaufmat, SignpostMarv Martin, Simon Nolan, SpacedOut Frye, Sporked Friis, Stevex Janus, Still Defiant, Strife Onizuka, Tayra Dagostino, TBBle Kurosawa, Teardrops Fall, Techwolf Lupindo, tenebrous pau, Tharax Ferraris, Thickbrick Sleaford, Thraxis Epsilon, tiamat bingyi, TraductoresAnonimos Alter, Tue Torok, Twisted Laws, Vadim Bigbear, Vector Hastings, Vex Streeter, Vixen Heron, Whoops Babii, Wilton Lundquist, Zarkonnen Decosta, Zi Ree, Zipherius Turas.

The remaining 1% of the code is what makes this viewer so much better and unique. This viewer includes code contributed by (in alphabetical order): Able Whitman, Aimee Trescothick, Aleric Inglewood, Alissa Sabre, Ardy Lay, Armin Weatherwax, Boroondas Gupte, Carjay McGinnis, Chalice Yao, Dale Glass, Elektra Hesse, Gigs Taggart, Guru Coyote, Hazim Gazov, Henri Beauchamp, Jacek Antonelli, JB Kraft, jcool410, Jonathan Yap, Kadah Coba, Kathrine Jansma, Khyota Wulluf, Kitty Barnett, Lance Corrimal, Latif Khalifa, Marine Kelley, McCabe Maxsted, Michelle2 Zenovka, Mm Alder, Moon Metty, Nicholaz Beresford, Nicky Dasmijn, Robin Cornelius, Satomi Ahn, Siana Gearz, Shyotl Kuhr, Sione Lomu, Techwolf Lupindo, Thickbrick Sleaford, Tom Meta, Vadim Bigbear, WhiteStar Magic, Zi Ree, Zwagoth Klaar and other, unknown authors.

I will say, that is a much more comprehensive list.

(from the bizarre album)

And the CoolVL 'Licenses & Copyrights' tab mimics the S19 viewer's list fairly exactly, which tells me that's just a standard legal block all viewers are supposed to list.

(from the bizarre album)

Then for some reason, I turned green. At least I go with the furniture? Still don't know why that happened (I didn't change eyes, outfit, hair, or skins while I was running these comparisons), but I took it as my cue to get off the grid.

Once off the grid, I searched through the CoolVL viewer files, and did track down the 'license.txt' file, with absolutely no difficulty. (The full text of that file can be read here.) And that has about the same amount of info that KirstenLee's EULA agreement had, only better organized.

So...and always keeping in mind I know next to nothing about viewer coding...I'd say, just in my opinion, that at least part of this is due to misunderstanding, on one or both sides. I'm fairly sure that Cinquetti thinks tossing in the copyright information into an installation agreement is the same as having it in the viewer; whether that's safe to say, I wouldn't be the one to ask. That there is more information, and more names, listed in Beauchamp's viewer is uncontested; but there's still one question remaining.

Does Cinquetti's saying "brought to life by KL" constitute claiming sole ownership of the viewer and its attached code? I ask that because of this, from Beauchamp's full listing in the 'license.txt' file:

The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim
that you wrote the original software.

Kirsten says, there was never a claim of sole ownership. Henri says, there IS a claim of sole ownership, by virtue of that single line under 'Authors & Credits'. So...who's right?

That, I think you'd have to ask an IP rights lawyer about, and I'm not one.