brave [little] meme

MeediOS skinner stealing from XBMC. Again.

Some people never learn. A user from the moribund MeediOS project has posted a series of videos for a new MeediOS interface, which shows remarkable similarities to the as yet unreleased Aeon Stark, from the XBMC project.

This is the second time the MeediOS community has been benefitting from stolen work. A few months ago a user by the handle crn was chastised for releasing the Aeon Chrome skin, a substantial rip-off of the original Aeon for XBMC, without so much as a credit to the original author. Today crn is at it again, promoting his Stark rip-off on YouTube without so much as a thanks to Aeon’s author, djh. I will not link to those videos here (which in any case, and perhaps tellingly, have had comments disabled), but you can draw your own comparison with the following screenshots.

Below: Aeon Stark’s info view

Below: crn’s uncredited knock-off.

It’s remarkable how someone can put so many hours into plagiarising someone else’s freely available, non-commercial work. The only redeeming aspect of the situation is the obvious cheapness of the effort. It would seem that, while able to copy most of the assets and general layouts of the original Stark, crn simply lacks the talent to pull it off with comparable style, resulting in a cobbled-together set of stolen pieces that don’t seem to quite fit together.

The MeediOS community should put more effort in policing this sort of activity, as it does their already endangered media platform no favours. They should instead attempt to forge actual working relationships with talented skinners from communities like XBMC in order to improve their own media experience.

Aeon’s author, djh, has been remarkably calm about the situation and did not express any grievance towards the appropriation of his work. Having been through this once before, he appears pragmatic in his reaction - a feeling not necessarily shared by some  fans of his work, who are understandably indignant.

I would welcome comments from the XBMC and MeediOS community as to how this sort of action affects them.