When Immich originally joined FUTO two years ago, the news was received with a healthy level of skepticism. Who was FUTO? Why did they want to “acquire” Immich? Did this mean the beginning of the end for the product? Well, it’s been almost two years now and we thought it would be fun to have a little retrospective on how things have played out since then.
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“Look how much FUTO didn’t fuck up” is a weird blog post to write… But the important thing is still true, Immich is still AGPL.
Nah, “look how much new owning company didn’t fuck up” is actual news these days. Its good to know that they’ve been doing well since the aquisition.
only because it’d be hard to get away from the AGPL. FUTO’s other licenses are weird for no apparent reason. They make a pretty nice android keyboard, but the license sucks, so I don’t use it.
Isn’t the license for the keyboard basically just a source-available non-commercial use license?
I mean sure, completely open source would be better, but I can definitely understand why they don’t want some big tech company just taking their work and monetizing it
Yes: https://github.com/futo-org/android-keyboard?tab=License-1-ov-file
But that is still less good than proper Free Software.
I would like FUTO more if they didn’t veer off of open source licensing
Its still AGPL, so that is good! But for other things, yes.
Do you mind elaborating more on the topic? I see them stressing that the licence is AGPL and it didn’t change. Is there anything else that is not obvious from the first glance?
Immich is AGPL, but other software they make, like the FUTO Keyboard, are under the nonfree FUTO License
https://drewdevault.com/blog/Whats-up-with-FUTO/
FUTO is associated with Curtis Yarvin
Hardly.
Curtis Yarvin and his associates have talked to FUTO and attempted to pitch Eron on investing in his tech startup Urbit. Yarvin also sat down and talked to Eron about issues relating to technology. Eron did not agree to fund their work and did not find their pitch to be particularly compelling. That is the extent of FUTO’s relationship with Yarvin and Urbit.
Source: your github link below.
According to the article you linked it isn’t. They platformed him but it isn’t owned by him and he doesn’t work for them.
https://github.com/immich-app/immich/discussions/23176
FUTO has demonstrated other sketchy behavior. The relevant comments were collapsed when I opened the page FWIW.
Also, platforming Yarvin alone is enough for me to avoid FUTO. Everyone is free to draw their line in the sand where they will.
I edited my previous comment from “FUTO is Curtis Yarvin” to “FUTO is associated with Curtis Yarvin” to be more precise.
I completely agree. I just thought it important to be accurate with these criticisms.
Good on ya for the edit :)
Agreed, accuracy and sources are important!