Avow-CI Is No More
As is often the case, the problem here could have been avoided if there had been clearer and more open communication.<p>All this guy had to do was go to his employer and say, "Listen, you should know that I'm working on an open-source project that is in the same ballpark as what I'm doing at work.  However, there is no shared code, a different architecture, and the two don't even compete against one another.  Plus, what I'm doing is open source."<p>If his employer had said, "Yeah, go ahead -- no problem," then there wouldn't have been a problem.<p>If his employer had said, "We're all in favor of open-source contributions and projects, but not when they compete against our core products, from which we make money," then they could have worked out a deal.  Or not.  But at least it wouldn't have been left up in the air like this.<p>I definitely see a problem with an employee creating an open-source project in the same space as his commercial, day job.  While a cease-and-desist order is pretty unpleasant, all they're saying is that he has to stop work on the project.  It could have been much worse, and much more expensive.<p>It also seems weird to me that while the former employee is saying he needs to stop, he's letting others fork the code and keep going with it.  If I were interested in picking up an open-source project, I'd be hesitant to join one in which there had been explicit legal threats against the original author.