Erholt Rhein <erholtr@pobox.com> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>>> What does that pay ware do that the free ware open source app does not do?
>>
>> Rather than have me waste time comparing one payware app against every
>> candidate freeware app, give an example of a freeware app that does
>> everything the payware one does. You'll need to build a table showing
>> this app compared against a freeware one with all the features of each
>> to know which is missing what.
>
> Common pay ware thievery of open source apps is common on Google Play.
>
> Rather than reward a thief, why not reward the original developer?
> https://github.com/hzx0910/cellular-z
>
> Rather than have me list everything each app does, you'll need to tell me
> what your pay ware app copy does that the free ware original doesn't do.
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=make.more.r2d2.cellular_z&gl=DE
>
> Rather than each of us work alone, why not each of us work together.
>
> You tell me what you need most from the thief's app. Five or ten things.
> I tell you whether the original app does what its thieved copy does.
>
> It will.

Rather than look at an app hosted at Github, or other code repository,
I'd start with the Google Play Store since that is from where I install
Android apps. No, Google doesn't immediately catch every app with
untoward behavior, but they strive to do so, may retroactively remove
"bad" apps, and do more than nothing at the repositories. The app is in
the store at:

https://play.google.com/store/search?q=cellular-z

The app's author is Zhengzhou CengSan Information Technology Co., LTD.
Distressing the readme.cmd file at their Github project site doesn't
list anything about their product other than hyperlinks to the Github
pages; i.e., no info about their product. I don't read Chinese, so
their Cellular-Z.pdf file is useless to me, and I'm not wasting time
trying to feed it through Google Translate. I did run about a page of
the PDF through Google Translate to see that is where you get info on
how to use the app. Learn Chinese, the app author's native language, or
use Google Translate and end up trying to comprehend Engrish. The
instruction.html file is also in Chinese.

I didn't bother delving into the app's code to see which libraries or
services were borrowed by this app. I also don't use a vast majority of
the functions in the Network Celluar Info app, and likely the same for
the CZ app.

Some differences I see (not an in-depth review):

- Cellular-Z (CZ) has a panel for Wi-Fi stats. Not there for me in
Network Cellular Info (NCI). Not sure why CZ bothers with wi-fi stats
since that has nothing to do with cellular stats. You might be using
a VOIP app to make calls, but that's with a wi-fi hotspot, not with a
cell tower.
- CZ shows a GPS map of satellites relative to my current location. NCI
shows a Google map for the cellular tower to which I'm current
connected. If I needed to know which GPS satellites were used for my
location (not of the tower's which provides that data in its signal),
I use the GPS Status app. However, that's all about GPS location and
the satellites used for YOUR position, and nothing to do with cellular
communication itself. NCI tells you the GPS data for the tower that
the tower is reporting to the phone. I don't need to know which GPS
satellites the tower uses probably because it's position is fixed and
doesn't need to connect to GPS satellites. It's not like the tower is
drifting at sea. I don't need GPS satellite info on myself when I'm
getting positioning of the *tower*. I can enter GPS coordinates into
Google Maps to find out where is the tower geographically, or just use
the Map panel in NCI.
There is a Map panel in CZ, but it's in Chinese in the screenshot, so
I can't tell what it's showing me. Presumably the app should be using
the regional settings in Android to determine which language
(character set) to use for text. NCI shows it is using Google Maps.
CZ doesn't identify its map data source. Maybe it's OsmAnd which is a
front-end for OpenStreets which is community-driven reporting (aka
contributors) for updates, and uses city plats for base data (and
plats are often out-of-date or show future streets that don't yet
exist). If an area has few or no contributors, mapping accuracy is
poor, if even present. See https://www.openstreetmap.org/about. NCI
uses Google's Map API. I've before used the OpenStreetsMap and OsmAnd
apps. No thanks. Google is more complete and more accurate, and
updates are more often. Google generates $4.3bn/year with their
mapping services. They can afford to be running their mapping trucks
around, and accessing other commercial map data sources. OpenStreets
resources are pitiful by comparison. OpenStreets desparately needs
more contributors.
- CZ's tower map is, according the app's screenshots at the Play Store,
maybe a Google map or might use OsmAnd (which is a community driven
database), under the Slot 1 and Slot 2 tab panels, but presents what
looks like a walking map to the tower (I don't read Chinese, so I
can't tell what is presented in the map).
- CZ present other wi-fi data, like device names, IP address, dBm, DNS
server, etc, but again what has that to do with *cellular*
communication? That's just feature bloat.
- I don't see CZ offers a signal tracking feature to report in which
areas coverage is low or zero, like OpenSignal's signal tracking
feature. For both NCI and OpenSignal, you need to leave the apps
running in the background, so they can record signal strength and
upload the data to their servers to have them track actual coverage
rather than what the carriers claim. What carriers claim is false in
many areas, like them showing superb coverage in my area, but that's a
lie because I'm in a valley near a river - the towers on my side don't
point down (which would obviously point at obstructions, like
buildings and trees, and the towers on the other side of the river
atop a cliff also don't point down to me). You can get network
coverage via community-driven recordings, or rely on the overly coarse
granularity of the maps from the carriers. No, I'm not a volunteer by
leaving those apps running in the background.
My smartphone has a bad battery design (drains way too fast) which
is known ever since released (I didn't research enough when I bought
it 3 years after its release). I've put in new non-counterfeit
batteries, and they still don't provide more than 10 hours of
up-time, or down to 6 hours under heavy use. Else, with a phone and
battery that stay up for days, yeah, I'd consider participating in
the coverage reporting. I don't relish when I get around to
replacing the phone with a new one since the new ones don't have
user-servicable batteries (you have to break into the case instead
of having a convenient back panel to replace the battery).

There are so many differences between the libs and services used by CZ
and NCI that your claim that NCI stole CZ's code is not only unfounded,
but a deliberate lie. Even if some online services overlap, one doesn't
have to steal the code from another to use those services. Those
services provide public APIs to access the services. That they overlap
on some functionality also does not mandate code stealing. M2Catalyst
is a commercial corporation at 120 Vantis Dr Ste 310 Aliso Viejo, CA,
92656-2677 United States; see:

https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.m2catalyst_llc.454c0eaf64c57f5074ed3c84c0aedf76.html

Who is Zhengzhou CengSan Information Technology Co., LTD? I let you to
find them, their postal address, a phone number, and sales information

Also remember that I said I had used NCI for a couple years before
deciding to pay for it. Like with shareware, if I've kept it and used
enough to know I want to keep it further, I pay for it. Sure, they get
rewarded, because they offer more of on-topic content (cellular, not
wifi and your-GPS fluff to bloat the product away from its primary use
of getting cellular information). If $2 if so extreme a cost to you,
keep using the freeware stuff. Sorry, I don't see that I rewarded the
wrong app author. You seem to confuse 2 apps that overlap in some
functionality as one just must be stealing from the other.

https://github.com/hzx0910/cellular-z/graphs/contributors
Just 1 contributor: the app author.

https://github.com/hzx0910/cellular-z/graphs/code-frequency
A big effort 3-1/2 years ago. Little since then.

M2Catalyst was formed in 2012. M2Catalyst acquired the Network Cellular
Info app from Wilysis in July 2019 (https://www.m2catalyst.com/faq)
which is why Wilysis is sometimes mentioned for this app. I found an
online manual for Wilysis' Network Cell Info app at:

http://wilysis.com/images/cellinfo/pdf/Network_Cell_Info_Manual_v3_180730.pdf

That's dated July 2018. Too damn close for one author to steal another
author's code. That was version 3 of their manual. I could dig further
to find earlier versions of their document only to find out that their
product was introduced before the CZ app. I did a time-based Google
search walking back to earlier years. There are articles dating back to
Sept 2015 about Wilysis' Network Cell Info app which is 2-1/2 years
BEFORE the CZ app showed up; example:

https://twitter.com/wilysis/status/644220075310981120?lang=en

How could Wilysis steal code from an app that didn't exist until another
2-1/2 years later? If there was any code "stealing", it was by CZ from
NCI. In addition, anything stored at GitHub *must* be open sourced, so
no code stealing is possible, anyway, but then I've shown Wilysis came
out with their app years before Zhengzhou CengSan fabricated their CZ
app.

Seems more like you are defending your choice instead of actually
evaluating the choices.

And, no, I'm not nor have ever been an employee of Wilysis (assuming
they still exist) or M2Catalyst. I didn't intend to prosyletize my
choice over others. If the free stuff works for you then you use it.
Just don't make blind accusations trying to justify your choice.

CZ was *not* the original app. It was a copycat app. Whether CZ stole
from NCI is not an issue to me, because I don't use CZ. Other than
overlapped functionality, just what led you to believe NCI stole from CZ
(which is open source, anyway, for anyone to use)? An exact copy of
open source could be called thievery, but not if the clone provides
added value, like just providing an easier GUI. Besides, NCI existed
2-1/2 years BEFORE CZ. Hmm, so who could've stolen from whom?