would you feel like you had been treated justly? what would your response be?
I'd like to think I'd be professional enough to change the name of the package once I was prompted by kik, reupload, and be done with it. I'd be miffed, but it's a piece of software. It won't ruin me to rebrand it. It'll take an afternoon, at most.
Cursing at people and calling people names, I'd like to think that we're above that as human beings, no matter how upset we are. That's something that teenagers in League of Legends do. That's not what a professional software engineer does.
was it really though? can you show me where NPM had any kind of obligation to unilaterally take one side in this dispute?
its easy for me to see where both KIK and Azer had legitimate claims to the name and its also totally legitimate for two parties to NOT come to an agreement outside of court. We have courts to settle disputes. That is where this should have ended up.
NPM effectively denied Azer his potential legal remedy by unilaterally supporting KIK.
npm dun goofed.
And out of nowhere, a corporation threatens you to re-brand it else you are gonna face consequences, you are saying you will rename the package and be done with it ? Just like that ? Without asking why .. or finding a compromise ? I am sorry to say, but that's not how most people think.
Maybe this would have played differently if Bob would have used better language. But the fact that he went off with "our trademark lawyers are going to be banging on your door and taking down your accounts" would have pissed off any person.
And why can't a software engineer be "unprofessional" in his own private time when he is dealing with "unprofessional" people in the first place ? Have you even read any of Linus' mails ?