OpenOSX Reacts to MacGimp.org Ethics

SWALL MEADOWS, Calif.--(OPENOSX.COM)--Nov. 29, 2001--OpenOSX was saddened to bring this bit of their history to the public's attention, however, due to recent events; OpenOSX felt that this was now a necessity.

Here are the MacGimp related facts as according to OpenOSX:
OpenOSX originally started business by the success of porting and packaging Grass GIS 5.0 beta 11 under their sister company, SierraMaps.com. They began shipping the Grass 5.0 beta 11 CD on May 14th, 2001.

SierraMaps.com (now OpenOSX.com) started selling their Gimp 1.2.1 for Mac OS X CD four days later on May 18th, 2001. Mat Caughron, the owner of MacGimp.org, MacGimp.com and Proteron LLC (the primary advertiser on the MacGimp websites), purchased a copy of the OpenOSX Gimp 1.2.1 CD three days later, on May 19th, 2001.

Immediately following Mr. Caughron purchase, MacGimp began "accepting pre-orders", and MacGimp started shipping "their" version of a slightly modified SierraMaps.com CD, about three weeks following.

MacGimp never gave credit in anyway to SierraMaps.com. SierraMaps.com and OpenOSX.com aware of this, never filed a complaint against MacGimp or issued a public statement.
On November 23rd, 2001, MacGimp posted a headline article stating "Avoid OpenOSX Installers".

The owner of OpenOSX.com, Jeshua Lacock stated "This is a deliberate and malicious attack against our company dedicated to serving the Mac Community". And later added, "It's slanderous behavior, in an attempt to steal more business from us. Our lawyers are currently investigating our legal options for a course of action".
OpenOSX released a new Gimp 1.2.3p2 CD on the 26th of November 2001.

On November 28th, 2001, Mat Caughron again placed an order, this time for a Gimp 1.2.3p2 CD. It is OpenOSX's belief that Mr. Caughron's intention is to sell the new version of the OpenOSX CD and to pass it off as theirs. OpenOSX predicts that MacGimp will begin selling a new version of "their" CD as soon as they can acquire an OpenOSX CD and copy it.

Jeshua then stated that "It is absolutely shameful a business would state on their website to avoid CD's they themselves stole from a legitimate business that created the product they are selling. What's even more sad is that MacGimp has high respect in the community.”

CONTACT: OpenOSX.com
Jeshua Lacock, 760/935-4736
jeshua@OpenOSX.com
http://OpenOSX.com