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Comment by dumphuk | Hacker News Reader

Agreed, didn't seem that special .. now this on the other hand: http://www.aloha-editor.org/

Yep, Aloha is very cool, especially now that they're replacing ExtJS with jQuery UI to make it lighter. It is unfortunate that they've stuck with the problematic AGPL, though.

That was the primary reason that made me start http://hallojs.org

I'm not really familiar with the AGPL. Why is it problematic?

It differs from GPL in that it is "viral" also when served through the web, so it could mean that your whole web application must either be AGPL, or you must buy an exception from the developer.

AGPL is a new license, and so there are few examples of how it affects things in practice. Many developers (especially ones building open source under less-strict license) prefer to keep their distance.

Does just linking to their hosted js and CSS force you to open up your backend under AGPL?

Not to mention that there is no way to know how a viral license even works when dealing with a non-linked language like Javascript or HTML.

The goal of the AGPL was to keep people from modifying GPL programs that were essential on the backend, but then keep their modifications hidden. With the normal GPL, if you don't distribute a binary, you don't have to release your code. With the AGPL, the goal was to force people to also release backend code. But code licenses start to get very shaky when we aren't talking about binary-linked modules.

I'm a big fan of Aloha. I can't wait for them to get extjs out of the system. That, combined with the fact that they include their own copy of jquery (just in case you don't have it loaded) makes the payload beyond crazy for a wysiwyg editor. If you use it, I highly suggest compiling your own minified version that does not include jquery. That will at least get the size down some, at least until the move to jquery ui is complete. Just keep in mind the license whenever you do anything with it. I'm still not convinced anyone understands how AGPL applies to publicly available js.

Take a look at http://jejacks0n.github.com/mercury/

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