The developer of the popular home screen and app launcher app Lawnchair decided to cut ties with the team when it was discovered that the app was using code that had been stolen from another app.
I don't like to address developer drama. People are allowed to have any expectations about their work environment that they want to have. We should respect that a developer doesn't want to be associated with a group that uses copyrighted code without permission.
The developer decided it was best to part ways. Don't stop doing what you think is the right thing, good luck to you.
But about the things that are taken. I put the word in quotes to suggest that it isn't the right word to describe what happened. I don't think it's a good idea to describe it as stealing.
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The Lawnchair team didn't have permission to use any of the code from the Pixel Launcher. It's clear that the internet giant doesn't care that it happened. It's not clear what happened.
There is code for a home screen app for the phone. It is located in the AOSP and anyone can take it and use it as they please. Many of the features people want an app of are missing.
The Pixel team does not share its work the same way the Android team does.
The code for the app is not shared by the company. It used to be on the Play Store for phones, but that has stopped. You need to buy a phone to use the Launcher legally. Again, those quotes.
If you want the features from the Pixel Launcher on any phone, you install a third-party replacement that does a good job copying it and even better. Like a lawn chair.
Sometimes code gets stolen because of us. No quotes, notice that.
It's easy to reverse engineer an app and get a good idea of how it was made. There are many ways to make it hard to get a complete version of it. If you have a computer and a few hours to spare, you can break almost any app down to its basics.
This is something that has been going on for a long time, and it's not a unique thing. Some groups in the tech industry think it's fine to reverse-engineer software. If you want to make something from it yourself, it's probably not legal in the European Union. It's a big fat gray area.
No soapbox here. I've done it and would do it again if the circumstances were the same.
I won't preach because I've done it. I dug in and did something I wanted the company to do so I shared my work with anyone who wanted it. A lot of people who read websites on the internet have installed something on their own.
The situation is the same as the lawnchair one. As more and more people wanted specific features in the app, the easiest way to make it happen was to decompile the Pixel Launcher and use the code from it.
Is that being used for something else? I don't think I'm a lawyer. I think it's stealing, but it's not a big deal because of the way they reacted. The quotation marks will be stopped now.
People enjoy the things the people at Google do, so they should be credited for their work. Most of your workday can feel like a failure if you don't get it right when you're writing software.
Unless we buy a new phone, we don't get features from the Launcher. We're not entitled to them because we didn't pay for them, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't want them.
If Google doesn't care then it's fair game. Hack away.
It's up to the search engine to protect its intellectual property. Lawnchair was using private code from the Pixel team, and it was either known or had the ability to know that. It knows now if it did not know.
The Lawnchair team needs to be warned that they are in danger until a cease and desist memo is sent. Lawnchair is an app that makes people enjoy using the phone, and it helps the company more than any other app. More people using the mobile operating system means more money in the accounts of the parent company.
Since the beginning, reverse engineering and hacking have been a part of the OS. I respect a developer who makes a stand and follows their conscious, but I'm not going to write off another developer who peeked into their own work.
The Lawnchair team will resolve this and we will forget about it. We will remember it when something similar happens. It's the way the operating system works.
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