In today's open source roundup: Did SourceForge hijack The GIMP's project account? Plus: Valve enmeshed in Tux logo drama. And SwiftKey for Android updated Is SourceForge hijacking project accounts? SourceForge has gotten heat in the past for its advertising practices, but now the site is drawing criticism for possibly hijacking project accounts. A recent thread in the Linux subreddit had some users pointing fingers at SourceForge. Patdavid started the thread by talking about an abandoned account for The GIMP that SourceForge has apparently taken over: It appears that SourceForge has taken it upon themselves to take over the project account for GIMP-WIN that was previously handled by our windows maintainer, Jernej Simončič, without our permission. The account that took over the project is listed on SF as sf-editor1[1] , and apparently has quite a few different FL/OSS projects associated with it (just a little suspicious). They are distributing ad-enabled installers of GIMP that are not officially recognized by the GIMP team. (We abandoned SourceForge as a distributor back in 2013). They have also not responded to comment or questions so far. As a gentle reminder, please be aware that GIMP is only officially distributed from the website (http://www.gimp.org/downloads[3] ) More at Reddit Linux redditors responded to Patdavid’s starter post about SourceForge: Adys: “I’m one of the lead devs of LXQt and an LXDE sysadmin. We use Sourceforge for our mailing lists and some LXDE legacy stuff. I’m absolutely sick of them. It’s not the first time this has happened. I’ve been pushing for us to move off SF for a while and this is a good occasion to push for it harder. I’ve sent an email[1] detailing plans to move. I am urging everyone who still has projects on Sourceforge to do the same. If you have similar migration problems to solve as the ones I’ve highlighted in the email, please contact me directly and we can share the workload. My email is available on my Github profile[2] . KayRice: “This isn’t the first time it’s happened either. They have a track record of ruining their brand, because they “lost to Github” for their core audience so whoever is running it now just tries to salvage it with crap ad-enabled installers.” Px403: “They lost to Google code like a decade ago, which then got its ass handed to it by github. People who still use sourceforge are like people who still use Slashdot. Several generations behind.” Fudeu: “I can see github moving to those tactics. Remember that sourceforge was the github of yesterday. well, you probably won’t… but it was. free sites were rare, and here is sourceforce, giving you free site+wiki+issues system+CVS!!! awesome! all for free! they love open source! … just like everyone says of github. The problem was, that was all they did. when the corporate customers that were footing the bill moved on, they got desperate. Slashdot bought them, and then slashdot was bought by someone who sells ads. and that happened. So in 5 yrs, when all the corporate clients abandon github (do they even have a profit already) and all their VC money dries out, they will probably be bought by AOL or conde nast and the very same will happen. Artefact2: “…git is decentralised. It’s trivially easy to switch to something else if Github turns into the new Sourceforge.” Draco1200: “Sourceforge died, BUT the brand was kept alive, because a brand name is a valuable commodity.” More at Reddit SourceForge responded with a post on its blog: There has recently been some report that the GIMP-Win project on SourceForge has been hijacked; this project was actually abandoned over 18 months ago, and SourceForge has stepped-in to keep this project current. For more details, read on… The GIMP-Win project was registered on SourceForge in October of 2004. In 2013, the GIMP-Win author discontinued use of SourceForge for download delivery. Based on our prior outreach to the GIMP-Win author, we understand that they had concerns about the presence of misleading third-party ads on SourceForge. They were not alone in those concerns — we were also concerned — leading us to establish a program to enable users and developers to help us remove misleading and confusing ads. In cases where a project is no longer actively being maintained, SourceForge has in some cases established a mirror of releases that are hosted elsewhere. This was done for GIMP-Win. More at SourceForge Valve enmeshed in Tux logo controversy Valve has been busy working on its SteamOS operating system. But the company recently stumbled into an ugly controversy when it switched the Tux logo to the SteamOS one. Marius Nestor reports for Softpedia: So this just happened! It would appear that Valve just took the decision, without asking users first, to change the Tux logo with the SteamOS one on both the Steam website and the desktop client. We understand that the change is part of Valve’s plans to expand further and to promote its SteamOS operating system, which is a GNU/Linux distribution derived from the well-known Debian project and built around the Steam for Linux client. What we don’t understand, is why replace the Tux penguin logo, which is the official mascot of Linux, with the SteamOS logo? The change will undoubtedly confuse new users who want to make the switch to an open-source operating system and buy Linux games from Steam. More at Softpedia SwiftKey for Android gets an update SwiftKey is a popular keyboard alternative for Android. The app has been updated and the new version contains a default Carbon theme, along with a new settings interface. John Callaham reports for Android Central: The SwiftKey virtual keyboard is a popular choice for Android smartphones, and today it’s rolling out a big update in the Google Play Store with a number of new features and additions, including a new default theme and a revamped settings section. Carbon is replacing Nickel as the default theme for SwiftKey Android users with this update. The SwiftKey Hub, which has previously been part of the Android beta version, is now available for all Android users. Finally, it offers users the option to securely predict when they will need their passwords and make them available quickly, as part of SwiftKey’s partnership with the Dashlane password manager company. More at Android Central Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux. Software DevelopmentOpen SourceTechnology Industry