Ask HN: Is it malicious to start charging $ for your previously free project?
It has been in news recently that the colors.js developer was suspended from Github for breaking his own project(adding an infinite loop in his program that halts it). Github staff hijacked his repo and reverted the change. It is being widely acclaimed that introduction of this update is "Malware". It is being criticized as a "malicious" act.
Now, say, instead of making the new version of his program cease to function for everybody entirely, he decided that the new version of his program was no longer going to be free, and if users wanted to utilize the newest version they must pay a fee. Say he introduced code instead that checked if a license was purchased for the software, and if so the program works, and if not the program halts. Would this have been considered a "malicious" act as well?
Now, say, instead of making the new version of his program cease to function for everybody entirely, he decided that the new version of his program was no longer going to be free, and if users wanted to utilize the newest version they must pay a fee. Say he introduced code instead that checked if a license was purchased for the software, and if so the program works, and if not the program halts. Would this have been considered a "malicious" act as well?