Why open source a project and let other people fork it if you are going to get completely bent out of shape when someone does fork it and build on it? What is the point of open source if that isn't exactly what happens?
The Wiring developer is not upset about someone forking the project, but the lack of acknowledgement and deliberate misinformation, even lying by the Arduino developers.
Steal is when I take something private, locked down, under patent and use it to profit. Show me what was stolen that wasn't given for free.
Arduino did give them credit, they said it originated from Wiring. The other factual details where relatively minor, something that could easily be confused by most people.
I love how the voting system in Hacker News is used as a weapon to suppress all dissent. What did I say that was trolling? Creating a new account because I work too near this field.
The team behind Arduino hasn't made its lineage clear enough, that's why this article is newsworthy. I also think it's worth knowing about as it adds a new perspective to the recent legal issues surrounding the rights to Arduino.
I actually did read the entire article. Most people seem to be reacting to the title, Arduino clearly attributed Wiring, they didn't just steal it and not say anything:
34. Banzi is the creator of the Programma2003 Development Platform, a precursor of the many ARDUINO-branded products. See: http://sourceforge.net/projects/programma2003/. Banzi was also the Master’s Thesis advisor of Hernando Barragan whose work would result in the Wiring Development Platform which inspired Arduino.
This was probably written by a lawyer and not Massimo himself. Its a legal filing. It says clearly Arduino is inspired directly by Wiring. What else do you wan't from an attribution of credit? Should Massimo get a tattoo that says "Wiring" on it and put it on his forehead?
That quote attributes more credit to programma2003 than wiring (precursor vs. inspired by). Is that an accurate portrayal of the history?
And there's a middle ground between stating inspiration and getting a tattoo. Inspiration implies idea not substance. Since it was a fork, 'based on' may be more appropriate.