Somebody in the Spanish forum discovered this site where they appear to sell an LMS which is suspiciously similar to Moodle:
http://caelms.edicurs.com/whatis.php
For those of you who understand Spanish, you can find the discussion here:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=22198#126064
If it turns to be true that this is a modification of Moodle, it is a crying shame.
I don't know whether Martin has some kind of legal advisor for Moodle, but perhaps this should be investigated.
Josep M.
If you'd look at the source of http://caelms.edicurs.com/whatis.php and http://caelms.edicurs.com/themes/green/styles.php you find something soo-O familiar 
After some searching I have found another VERY interesting site here:
http://campus.clasemultimedia.com/index.php
(hint: compare the price tags)
try also this:
http://caelms.edicurs.com/lib/
http://campus.clasemultimedia.com/index.php
(hint: compare the price tags
try also this:
http://caelms.edicurs.com/lib/
Well, that one is just offering courses. But their "whatis" page seems to offer the LMS itself. That's where it could get dodgy. Or not. Depends on how they sell it.
You can also login as guest, guest and see other information. It seems that they have some sort of incorporation with a DMS. I think I have seen it before.
Could someone who understands Spanish please tell me what country these folks are in? If there is a contact address for Edicurs I would really appreciate a private e-mail with details. Thanks!
I sent them an email a couple days ago, asking whether I could license their lms software, and what were the price and conditions. Haven't heard back from them yet. There's a free phone number for calls within Spain.
It may very well be that they offer something legal and consistent with the GPL. After all, there's no requirement to keep the name, though I'm interested to see to what extent they removed copyright notices.
I have to confess, though, I'm not too worried. Moodle has a huge momentum, and the only thing they can do is rip off a clueless client or two. Moodle itself moves forward so fast that any proprietary customization is quickly left behind. And it has a growing press coverage, so any potential customer either knows about it, or will hear about it soon.
It's perhaps the most sincere form of flattery AND free marketing, if the history of MS Windows is any reference.
It may very well be that they offer something legal and consistent with the GPL. After all, there's no requirement to keep the name, though I'm interested to see to what extent they removed copyright notices.
I have to confess, though, I'm not too worried. Moodle has a huge momentum, and the only thing they can do is rip off a clueless client or two. Moodle itself moves forward so fast that any proprietary customization is quickly left behind. And it has a growing press coverage, so any potential customer either knows about it, or will hear about it soon.
It's perhaps the most sincere form of flattery AND free marketing, if the history of MS Windows is any reference.
My rusty Spanish tells me that it is a referral link to the site. It seems to indicate that CAE-LMS is suitable for offering MS Office courses and other courses by using the web. The asterisk explains that MS is no way affiliated with CAE-LMS and other legal jargon releasing themselves from any responsibility.
In all, it seems that CAE-LMS has registered their site with MS.
In all, it seems that CAE-LMS has registered their site with MS.
Translation:
Solutions Catalog > Training and support
Provided By: Computer Aided Education, S.A. (S.A. is simialr to Ltd)
Online platform for IT courses. CAE-LMS is an e-learning platform on which you can take courses on MS products and others without moving from home, and using just your web browser. The courses are completely interactive and you the user experience will be identical (will feel like) using the real application.
I find it hilarious, but you've got to give it to them -- they can tell a good LMS platform when they see it. Bah, the CAE guys just registered their service with MS, and are free to use the best tool for the job, regardless of where it comes from.
Bear in mind, we don't know if there's foul play until we find they removed the copyrights or they licensed it in a way that is not GPL compliant.
So no panic just yet. But I'm curious anyway.
But other than their touting of "their" system's capabilities, is there anything there that says they are actually selling it? I think this may be much ado about nothing. Maybe they simply are touting Moodle's capabilities in order to sell enrollments in their courses that are taught using it. If that is all they are doing, then I think it would be highly unfair to say they are doing anything devious. I did the same on my own site with the latest release of Moodle 1.5, hey, I even stole some lines off of the release notes describing the new features. But I'm not selling Moodle. But then there are some here at Moodle.org who almost consider it heresy to take the Moodle logo off the bottom of one's home page...so I'm not surprised that some might jump to this conclusion.
That's just a page on MS website. On _their_ website, they do offer courses, and they also seem to be offering the LMS. And it all depends on what license they attach to that offering
As long as their modified version is under the GPL and all the included copyright notices are retained then this would be OK and I wish them luck.
I'd appreciate others finding out more details about CAE-LMS, however, to make sure they are doing the right thing.
I'd appreciate others finding out more details about CAE-LMS, however, to make sure they are doing the right thing.
..and as more LMS systems copy Moodle, the sooner Moodle becomes THE reference for a good LMS. It also keeps us sharp?
The copyright notice was removed, I do not see any COPYRIGHT.txt in http://caelms.edicurs.com/doc/
Hi,
I'm not an GPL license expert at all but I think it isn't mandatory to maintain the COPYRIGHT.txt in the same place nor with the same name nor published.
My personal opinion is that such company has selected the wrong way and that, in the long term, such way won't be positive for them at all (hard to maintain, customers could feel mislead...) but they is their decision. My personal option is to avoid supporting them at all and, if somebody asks me, I won't say anything positive about that company (but YES about their LMS, remarking it's a Moodle's clone ).
In the other hand, talking about license or copyright infringements, it's a bit risky if we don't have all the required info in our hands. By default I prefer to assume they are working correctly and they haven't infringed anything. Perhaps it's a too much positive assumption, but I prefer to think in a wonderful world...
Ciao
I'm not an GPL license expert at all but I think it isn't mandatory to maintain the COPYRIGHT.txt in the same place nor with the same name nor published.
My personal opinion is that such company has selected the wrong way and that, in the long term, such way won't be positive for them at all (hard to maintain, customers could feel mislead...) but they is their decision. My personal option is to avoid supporting them at all and, if somebody asks me, I won't say anything positive about that company (but YES about their LMS, remarking it's a Moodle's clone
In the other hand, talking about license or copyright infringements, it's a bit risky if we don't have all the required info in our hands. By default I prefer to assume they are working correctly and they haven't infringed anything. Perhaps it's a too much positive assumption, but I prefer to think in a wonderful world...
Ciao
I totally agree with you Eloy. 
However, this does look like a fairly comprehensive rebranding (eg see http://caelms.edicurs.com/lang) and note that moodle.php has been renamed to caelms.php, which indicates the name is being hidden fairly well!).
I'll send them an email asking for more info.
However, this does look like a fairly comprehensive rebranding (eg see http://caelms.edicurs.com/lang) and note that moodle.php has been renamed to caelms.php, which indicates the name is being hidden fairly well!).
I'll send them an email asking for more info.
I just called this company (Computer Aided Education, S.A. from Gandía, Valencia, Spain) pretending to be a prospective client and I can confirm they sell the LMS, besides hosting on-line courses. They also seem to have quite a few people working for the company. I talked to 3 different people before I could get the information I wanted and they appear to have representatives in a few cities in Spain.
As somebody said, this might not infringe the GPL license. I just thought people, especially Martin D., might want to know about the existance of this. I'm not a legal expert and without any further information (as so many other people have said here) I cannot say for sure whether this is illegal or not. By the look of it, though, it looks to me pretty unethical and scummy.
Eloy says that his personal option is not providing them with any support. For all we know, though, they are obtaining all the support they need from these very forums. Perhaps straight from Eloy himself , which given the amount of help he offers, above all in the Spanish speaking forum, wouldn't be surprising
). "They" could be any user asking questions such as "how can I eliminate the Moodle icon from my Moodle installation?", just to cite an example 
. Perhaps one or a couple of people related to this company are reading this thread now.
Also, Martín Langhoff (who until just yesterday I thought was Martin as opposed to Martín) says that they cannot keep up with the fast pace of Moodle development. Well, it depends, right?. It depends on how they have expanded or modified Moodle to "create" "their" platform, if this, in fact, turns out to be what they've actually done. They could have done it in such a way that new modules or plugins developed in Moodle can be easily adapted into "their" platform. As far as I can see, this Moodle look-alike LMS has forums, chats, messaging, SCORM and activity reports (this is what it says in their site). I don't know whether they lifted these modules straight from Moodle or whether they built their own (although if they are capable of building their own modules, they might as well have built the LMS from scratch, which doesn't look like it is what they've done). But if they've done this with these modules, what prevents them from doing the same with any new developments in Moodle?
Josep M.
As somebody said, this might not infringe the GPL license. I just thought people, especially Martin D., might want to know about the existance of this. I'm not a legal expert and without any further information (as so many other people have said here) I cannot say for sure whether this is illegal or not. By the look of it, though, it looks to me pretty unethical and scummy.
Eloy says that his personal option is not providing them with any support. For all we know, though, they are obtaining all the support they need from these very forums. Perhaps straight from Eloy himself , which given the amount of help he offers, above all in the Spanish speaking forum, wouldn't be surprising
). "They" could be any user asking questions such as "how can I eliminate the Moodle icon from my Moodle installation?", just to cite an example . Perhaps one or a couple of people related to this company are reading this thread now. Also, Martín Langhoff (who until just yesterday I thought was Martin as opposed to Martín
) says that they cannot keep up with the fast pace of Moodle development. Well, it depends, right?. It depends on how they have expanded or modified Moodle to "create" "their" platform, if this, in fact, turns out to be what they've actually done. They could have done it in such a way that new modules or plugins developed in Moodle can be easily adapted into "their" platform. As far as I can see, this Moodle look-alike LMS has forums, chats, messaging, SCORM and activity reports (this is what it says in their site). I don't know whether they lifted these modules straight from Moodle or whether they built their own (although if they are capable of building their own modules, they might as well have built the LMS from scratch, which doesn't look like it is what they've done). But if they've done this with these modules, what prevents them from doing the same with any new developments in Moodle?Josep M.