If you grew up in the 90's and early 2000's like me with a computer, you must be familiar with the MP3 player software on the computer called Winamp. It comes with an interface that not only makes it easy for users to organize playlists, but also to change audio equalizer settings, and if you're diligent, create your own “skin” of this software.
A few months ago, the source code for this software was uploaded to the open source software platform GitHub, but recently, it was seen that the repository of the Llama Group, the owner of the Winamp software has been cleared from the platform.
According to several reports and even comments from GitHub users, this is not surprising. This is because since the source code was introduced on GitHub, it was seen that the Llama Group was not very friendly with the open source community by issuing warnings such as developers not being allowed to use the source code to develop a "new" Winamp, in a process commonly called "forking". ” in the open source community.
Perhaps what is more interesting is the presence of technologies that should no longer belong to the Llama Group, such as Shoutcast Distributed Network Audio Server or DNAS developed by Nullsoft, the original developer of the Winamp software. It is used as an interface to stream MP3 files from the server machine.
Since Llama Group is seen to have sold Nullsoft to another company, it has also been reported that technically they no longer have ownership rights to the DNAS technology contained in the software. Not only that, there are also source codes from Intel and Microsoft that are still used today.
The Llama Group's reluctance to allow the source code of their software to be used "for free" by other developers, and possibly issues related to technology ownership are seen as reasons why the source code was removed from GitHub. In fact, all posts from Winamp's official account have been deleted, and can no longer be read.