The Return of MMOGlider (MDY vs Blizzard Update)!

[ocktra]

Hi, mmowned people. Ocktra from mmoglider.com here just spreading the latest Glider news.

It's been a difficult time waiting to file this, but it finally ended last night. We filed our petition with the appeals court to rehear an issue that the court appears to have overlooked.

The appeals court tossed every single thing in the original judgment, but then they re-added an injunction on MDY against selling Glider based on the DMCA 1201b violation. That is the one that says Warden is "access control" and circumventing it is thus a DMCA violation, even with no copyright infringement.

They spent a great deal of time talking about how they don't like Chamberlain, a case that would have won it for us. And in many respects, I don't blame them for not taking Chamberlain because that case establishes a confusing burden on the plaintiff to establish some liability that normally isn't there with the DMCA.

However, the court appears to have gotten too caught up in Chamberlain and overlooked a part of the DMCA that pretty much was designed exactly for Glider.

1201f "interoperability" exception
Congress didn't want people using the DMCA to expand copyright and force out software interoperation. So they added some interesting verbiage to the DMCA saying that you are explicitly allowed to circumvent access control if it's for the sole purpose of enabling interoperation between two programs (homework assignment: guess which two) and there is no copyright infringement.

Now that the copyright ruling has been reversed, 1201f should apply to Glider. We filed a petition to ask the court to consider that, since 1201f was not discussed after they dismantled Chamberlain.

There's a link to the petition at the bottom of this post. It's a pretty good read and not even that long.

What's going to happen next, then?
Well, if I was sure, we wouldn't need a panel of judges for this. But there are a few possible outcomes that may come out pretty fast. And a lot of them involve Glider going back on the market, so I've been busy preparing for that possibility.

And let me tell you, catching up on two years of WoW updates (and a practical re-write of many class mechanics) is not fun.

What this means for Glider
The legal argument is very simple and very strong. There's a very good chance that the panel will take it or possibly just lift the injunction and kick it back down to Judge Campbell to determine 1201f applicability.

And, even without this, Glider is technically legal to sell without anti-Warden code. Not that it would last very long like that, but there are some interesting options for leaving that feature as a plug-in for others to develop... or other cleverness. We're exploring quite a few ideas to put Glider back on the market legally now that the injunction is so narrow.

So if you do get Glider back out, what then?
We've updated Glider in-house to get it current with the game and its existing functionality. All the Tripwire stuff is disabled here (can't use that stuff legally), but that's not a big deal today... I doubt there's gonna be a Warden update just to whack my little test account.

Needless to say, the market has progressed quite a bit past the old simple profiles thing and we've got a lot of work to do in order to get caught up to that.

The good news is there are already some really good Glider add-ons that do some of that. And our biggest priority will be a linked questing/tasking system that's been rolling around in my head for literally 2 years. I'm looking at one-touch 1-85 with the proper community support. Judging by how big regular profiles were in the past, that should be easy to come by.

When's the next update?
Pretty soon, in legal terms. I'm guessing we'll hear back from the panel on this petition within 2 to 12 weeks. We may get jammed there and get nothing... or things might get really interesting, really fast. We'll be prepared for anything.

TL;DR
Sorry, there's no easy way out this time. Gotta read it.

Download link:
http://mmoglider.com/legal/1201f_Petition.pdf

• We say that the 9th circuit ruled a direct contradiction to the DMCA.
• Glider is very likely coming back.
• Glider will be supported for Windows 7 / 64x
• Something we consider better than "NavMesh" is on its way
• There is currently a working version of Glider that you guys don't get to use right now

I'll be around to answer any questions.. feel free to ask away!

-Ock out

[Smeems]

Toasting in soon to be epic bread.

Great announcement for you guys. Well done.

[Ukmonkey]

Nice, very excited and I seriously hope the competition will force others to get better features out there quicker.

[theigovn]

thumb up for glider

[Hassliebe]

best thing heard today. keep it up guys

[jungly]

hmmm.... gona be hard with glider's comeback really to compete against these guys who are now better than glider was.

pirox
gb/hb

[jereminion]

thats good i gave them 15 dollars right before they got sued and stopped workin on it but didnt get refund

[Kortwa]

You cant compare current bots like pirox or HB to what glider was before it went into court. When the legal battles are over I imagine that they will bring it up to par with all the features that current bots have.

[arnoldrimmer]

Something we consider better than "NavMesh" is on its way

yea we know thanks to Blackbook:

Pontus made Pather for Lifetime Elite users of Glider and that was a primitive evolutionary version of what we're using now.

[danbirk]

Never used glider, and the site looks like shit
But sounds like its a good bot, and would make many happy if they ressurect it

[Dale93]

I have seen a couple of "them hatas" here on the site who go on about how Glider is nothing compared to Gb/Hb and Pirox, well considering what Glider could do, compared to what the new bots are doing right now, that is true. But considering what potential Glider had back when it was around and considering what Pirox and "the buddies" can do now, I can swear on my own life that as long as Glider stays as creative as they were before the lawsuit and they keep working that hard, they will in no time dominate the market once again and all other bot-devs can just go back to bed, nothing can compare to the amazing things Merc and the rest of the crew managed to do back in the days, I cant wait to see what Glider will be like now once you start back up. I for one still have dreams about Glider and wretched nightmares of the banwaves and the lawsuit.

Now for a couple of questons:

• For those who bought Glider back in the days, will we have to re-purchase?
• I read that you are allowed to release a new version of Glider WITHOUT anti-Warden code, how will that work out?
• If we do end up having to re-purchase, what will the prices be like?
• ETA of when the new version is coming out?
• Will the crew stay the same as before or do you have new people working with Glider?

Stay strong and remember that you are one of the best software developers around (Not talking about just WoW here)

[Ballwinkle]

I doubt you would have to repurchase, as long as you remeber yor forums user/pass. And its 2-12 weeks