Donavon, the funny thing is I was thinking about how, after Vista came out, I'd want to hack the Gadget to countdown to something new.  Luckily, I know as much about writing code as I do about refrigerator repair, that is, not at all, so I would not have been able to do it myself anyway.  That said, have you considered doing a program that would let others create customizable Sidebar countdown gadgets?  Something simple: Specify a date, submit an image, and your code would create a Gadget of much better quality than a typical hack-job.  That would be really useful, and save you the hassle of creating countdown Gadgets for every occasion.  Plus, you could keep your copyright and website links intact, so that if a ton of people shared their Gadgets, you'd get even more publicity.

Donavon, the funny thing is I was thinking about how, after Vista came out, I'd want to hack the Gadget to countdown to something new.  Luckily, I know as much about writing code as I do about refrigerator repair, that is, not at all, so I would not have been able to do it myself anyway.  That said, have you considered doing a program that would let others create customizable Sidebar countdown gadgets?  Something simple: Specify a date, submit an image, and your code would create a Gadget of much better quality than a typical hack-job.  That would be really useful, and save you the hassle of creating countdown Gadgets for every occasion.  Plus, you could keep your copyright and website links intact, so that if a ton of people shared their Gadgets, you'd get even more publicity.

Taking other people's work and using it in this manner without taking due care to ask for permission etc. is poor form and I hope this guy apologises and does whatever it takes to rectify the situation.

Why is liveside your personal rant blog?

i think it is wrong to do that.... but i guess some people are just jealous of other peoples abilities and think if they try to copy it, that it would make them look better.  

I think it's wrong what another MVP did, sets a bad image of MVP now especailly when he brags 'hack'

@phunky i think he has used it to show readers or even ask a question what is copyright - personally i would not have read the post unless it was here

I'm sorry, but I'm with phunky here. I'm yet to see a post here from you that is more about Windows Live than a blatant advert for your LiveGadgets site.

I like what you do at LiveGadgets (especially the idea of Gadget/IG - what happened to that?), but please make your posts relevant.

Some interesting comments here;

Nathan - I'm with you on this, I can patch things up to make them do what I want, but creating the original is definitely not a strong point, so the idea of a DIY gadget made via webpage is an interesting one.

Wes , delldude and BV2312 - Nothing much to say really, except I agree.

Phunky and kenbw2 - I agree that LiveSide isn't a personal rant blog, and perhaps donavon's post was slightly too far inclined in that direction. However I think the post raises an interesting discussion that is going to become more apparent as widgets/gadgets gain in popularity. With independent developers seeking to gain commissions for gadgets and make a living from them more and more, issues over who owns the code will become more commonplace.

As always, if you want to give feedback at any time we have the dedicated email address feedback*at*liveside*dot*net or you can email me if you would prefer.

I am happy Donavon for you to have obtained to decide this problem. Therefore to make its accountant of the Vista, it spent time and its intellect, therefore I do not agree to what the face made there that it was to steal its code and its idea to create an accountant as if was of it.

At first glance it would seem like Donavon was ranting but if you really look at it, he's trying to make a valid point. Perhaps the fact that he used his own experience makes it seem like he's venting his own personal frustrations but that isn't the big issue here.

Copyright infringement has been going on for a while now; however I didn’t think people were so blatantly proud of it. At least it’s being dealt with. Hopefully it works out for the best Donavon.

Too mix it up a bit more...

Nice to see that Microsoft and Donavon West had already given out some code to allow public use of the VistaCountDown Gadget at least to display it on their own website.

Granted though... republishing the gadget on Live Gallery is really going too far.

Code pasted from http://livegadgets.net/#blog_00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001

<div style="position:relative;width:130px;height:142px;">

<script src="http://download.gallery.start.com/d.dll/1~1~485~4304/VistaCountdown.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

</div>

Keep up the good professional work !

Donavon

Best Regards,

Richard J. Rothery Jr.