AniceSoft EPUB Converter is a calibre Ripoff

krinse · 02-03-2014, 01:31 PM

Hi guys,

Please check out this website and software:

http://www.anicesoft.com/

I think their EPUB convertor is essentially just using the Calibre conversion engine and they are selling their program for profit. They are listed on Google and software sites like Softpedia

I think this should be investigated

The reason I found out is that I used it simply to test the PDF conversion and look what it comes out with in the metadata:

Anyway, I could be wrong, but I thought it would be worth raising awareness at least. Please excuse me if I made a mistake.

kovidgoyal · 02-03-2014, 09:54 PM

Yes, they are using calibre and given that they are not making the source of their application available, they are doing so illegally, in violation of calibre's license, the GPLv3.

Not to mention the extreme scumminess of creating a competitor to calibre based on calibre without even acknowledging that fact.

kovidgoyal · 02-03-2014, 10:06 PM

Here's the text of the email I sent them:

Quote:

You are distributing the software "AniceSoft - EPUB converter" which is
using calibre under the hood to do its conversions. calibre is licensed
using the GNU GPLv3. That means that you cannot distribute it as part of
a closed source application. You *must* open source your application if
you want to use calibre inside it, or immediately stop distributing it.

And I strongly suggest you cease your deceptive marketing practices as
well. You are using calibre to do conversions, acknowledge that fact on
your website and in your product. Dont be a slimeball.

http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq....s-app-licensed

Kovid Goyal.
Copyright holder of for calibre.

Krittika Goyal · 02-04-2014, 06:09 AM

@krinse: Thanks for letting us know

Krittika Goyal · 02-04-2014, 07:30 AM

I contacted softpedia and they were prompt in taking down the download page. I contacted software informer as well. I am waiting for a response from them.

Krittika Goyal · 02-05-2014, 01:35 AM

Dear Developer!

We would like to clarify that our site (software.informer.com) is in no way meant to provide unauthorized downloads or trade on goodwill of listed companies. Our software database serves solely as a source of information; for that purpose, under each software entry, we only provide links to sites run by the actual developers (or copyright owners) of that software - including the download and purchase links, if there are any. We do keep copies of setup packages on our mirror servers, but it is only done for those downloads which are freely available in the first place. None of the listed programs is offered as an illegitimate download or unauthorised purchase in any way.

There is no direct way of publishing a product on software.informer.com. A program gets into our database automatically after it is installed by at least one user of siClient (http://software-informer.software.informer.com/). That is, a user clicks 'Refresh' in the client, and our site gets the info about the existence of the new program. The description (until the program is reviewed) is obtained from the program's PAD file.

If you still insist on removing any reference to your software, please let us know.

SI support team.

We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If not, please do not send another email. Instead, reply to this email or login to your account for a complete archive of all your support request and responses.

cybmole · 02-05-2014, 05:26 AM

A quick google of "epub converter" brings up a whole host of "brand names" - it would be a major chore to check them all for infringement.
it is unfortunately quite common for less scrupulous program sellers to offer the same code within several brands.
the hard-line response would be to upload an infected version of anicesoft to a few torrent sites but we're nice people, we don't do that stuff. The ones already up there are probably infected anyway

Krittika Goyal · 02-06-2014, 11:32 PM

software informer has now removed the download link to anicesoft.

anicesoft itself has ignored us and I have made a report to the software freedom law centre about the GPL violation.

dmstarr · 08-22-2014, 03:49 PM

Following this thread and am very distressed. I found both apps yesterday and love the elegance of Calibre, but it absolutely chokes and dumps on the epub file I am trying to convert to PDF. For some reason the AniceSoft app manages to get past what are most likely illegal syntax. The file was generated from RoboHelp and is incredibly massive but even a file the 10th the size from the same project still causes Calibre to dump. I do not want to support an illegal app but am really wanting a simple solution to get from epub to PDF (pls do not ask why

). Recommendations?

cybmole · 08-23-2014, 12:44 AM

calibre may work if you go in 2 steps, do epub to epub conversion which will clean up the code, then try epub to pdf with the results.
if anicesoft is really calibre renamed ( & an older version at that) - your report does not make a lot of sense though ?

maybe this bit of anicessoft - epub to pdf - has been taken from some different program ?

JSWolf · 08-23-2014, 12:18 PM

Given that AniceSoft is using Calibre 1.22, why not try rolling back to 1.22 and see if your ePub converts. If so, then you can file a bug report and hopefully get the newer Calibre fixed.

cybmole · 08-24-2014, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given that AniceSoft is using Calibre 1.22, ...

was that ever proven, or just suspected ?

I guess it it write calibre tags into its output epubs then it's guilty as charged , but does it also helpfully write a version number ???

BetterRed · 08-24-2014, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

was that ever proven, or just suspected ?

I guess it it write calibre tags into its output epubs then it's guilty as charged , but does it also helpfully write a version number ???

Think so - in content.opf I see

Code:

<dc:contributor opf:role="bkp">calibre (2.0.0) [http://calibre-ebook.com]</dc:contributor>

according to the LoG MARC codes 'bkp' is Book Producer

BR

JSWolf · 08-24-2014, 05:00 PM

If you look at the first post of this thread, you will see that at the time that was written, AniceSoft was using Calibre 1.22. That is why I suggest trying 1.22 with your ePub to see if you can get it to convert. If so, then you can file a bug report.

dmstarr · 09-03-2014, 01:14 PM

All

Sorry for the delay in replying; i thought the mobileread site would trigger emails when folks responded. Probably a preference I need to set.

First: Someone had suggested going epub->epub first to see if that cleaned the offending tags. I just wanted to mention for reference that I had tried that with no success.

Second: I did try the older version of Calibre and definitely got past the crash. Thanks!

I really appreciate the guidance. I have a feeling that the issue is with RoboHelp tags that seem to play fine in HTML but may not be easy for Calibre to discard. I don't think I can use the search/replace to fully purge those as they are a block of javascript type code with params that vary.

The one thing that does not seem to parse properly still (for PDF output), but at least does not crash, are the javascript popups we use. These behave correctly in the epub but are converted to just hyperlinks in the PDF output. It looks like Calibre gracefully removes the rh- portion of the tags shown below, but does not have a way for us to specify that these should be converted to expanded text (RH does this for print/PDF output but the Calibre engine is more powerful so we'd prefer to use it). Does anyone have a suggestion for forcing popups to be expanded for output? Or should I ask that elsewhere.

<?rh-dropspot_start class="dropspot" href="javascript:TextPopup(this)"
id="a1" dataid="POPUP317661753" ?>Adding a server across a firewall<?rh-dropspot_end ?></p>
<?rh-droptext_start class="droptext" id="POPUP317661753" style="display: none;" ?>
<p>When adding a server across a firewall, (for example, when adding
a Local Server located outside a firewall to a Global Manager located
inside the firewall) do the following:</p>
etc etc...

PS:
I'd emailed the Anicesoft support folks as well to ask them a) about the Calibre conflict above and b) what price they would be charging after the 30 day trial period expired. Quite interestingly, I never got an answer to either question. Perhaps no one is monitoring their site anymore.

02-03-2014, 01:31 PM	#1
krinse Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2014 Device: none	AniceSoft EPUB Converter is a calibre Ripoff Hi guys, Please check out this website and software: http://www.anicesoft.com/ I think their EPUB convertor is essentially just using the Calibre conversion engine and they are selling their program for profit. They are listed on Google and software sites like Softpedia I think this should be investigated The reason I found out is that I used it simply to test the PDF conversion and look what it comes out with in the metadata: Anyway, I could be wrong, but I thought it would be worth raising awareness at least. Please excuse me if I made a mistake. Attached Thumbnails

02-04-2014, 07:30 AM	#5
Krittika Goyal Vox calibre Posts: 412 Karma: 1175230 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony reader prs700, kobo	Softpedia has taken down the download page for this software I contacted softpedia and they were prompt in taking down the download page. I contacted software informer as well. I am waiting for a response from them.

02-05-2014, 01:35 AM	#6
Krittika Goyal Vox calibre Posts: 412 Karma: 1175230 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony reader prs700, kobo	response from software informer Dear Developer! We would like to clarify that our site (software.informer.com) is in no way meant to provide unauthorized downloads or trade on goodwill of listed companies. Our software database serves solely as a source of information; for that purpose, under each software entry, we only provide links to sites run by the actual developers (or copyright owners) of that software - including the download and purchase links, if there are any. We do keep copies of setup packages on our mirror servers, but it is only done for those downloads which are freely available in the first place. None of the listed programs is offered as an illegitimate download or unauthorised purchase in any way. There is no direct way of publishing a product on software.informer.com. A program gets into our database automatically after it is installed by at least one user of siClient (http://software-informer.software.informer.com/). That is, a user clicks 'Refresh' in the client, and our site gets the info about the existence of the new program. The description (until the program is reviewed) is obtained from the program's PAD file. If you still insist on removing any reference to your software, please let us know. SI support team. We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If not, please do not send another email. Instead, reply to this email or login to your account for a complete archive of all your support request and responses.

08-23-2014, 12:44 AM	#10
cybmole Wizard Posts: 3,720 Karma: 1759970 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	calibre may work if you go in 2 steps, do epub to epub conversion which will clean up the code, then try epub to pdf with the results. if anicesoft is really calibre renamed ( & an older version at that) - your report does not make a lot of sense though ? maybe this bit of anicessoft - epub to pdf - has been taken from some different program ? Last edited by cybmole; 08-23-2014 at 12:47 AM.

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02-03-2014, 09:54 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Yes, they are using calibre and given that they are not making the source of their application available, they are doing so illegally, in violation of calibre's license, the GPLv3. Not to mention the extreme scumminess of creating a competitor to calibre based on calibre without even acknowledging that fact.

02-04-2014, 06:09 AM	#4
Krittika Goyal Vox calibre Posts: 412 Karma: 1175230 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony reader prs700, kobo	@krinse: Thanks for letting us know

02-05-2014, 05:26 AM	#7
cybmole Wizard Posts: 3,720 Karma: 1759970 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	A quick google of "epub converter" brings up a whole host of "brand names" - it would be a major chore to check them all for infringement. it is unfortunately quite common for less scrupulous program sellers to offer the same code within several brands. the hard-line response would be to upload an infected version of anicesoft to a few torrent sites but we're nice people, we don't do that stuff. The ones already up there are probably infected anyway

02-06-2014, 11:32 PM	#8
Krittika Goyal Vox calibre Posts: 412 Karma: 1175230 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony reader prs700, kobo	software informer has now removed the download link to anicesoft. anicesoft itself has ignored us and I have made a report to the software freedom law centre about the GPL violation.

08-22-2014, 03:49 PM	#9
dmstarr Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: none	Following this thread and am very distressed. I found both apps yesterday and love the elegance of Calibre, but it absolutely chokes and dumps on the epub file I am trying to convert to PDF. For some reason the AniceSoft app manages to get past what are most likely illegal syntax. The file was generated from RoboHelp and is incredibly massive but even a file the 10th the size from the same project still causes Calibre to dump. I do not want to support an illegal app but am really wanting a simple solution to get from epub to PDF (pls do not ask why ). Recommendations?

08-23-2014, 12:18 PM	#11
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,745 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Given that AniceSoft is using Calibre 1.22, why not try rolling back to 1.22 and see if your ePub converts. If so, then you can file a bug report and hopefully get the newer Calibre fixed.

08-24-2014, 05:00 PM	#14
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,745 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	If you look at the first post of this thread, you will see that at the time that was written, AniceSoft was using Calibre 1.22. That is why I suggest trying 1.22 with your ePub to see if you can get it to convert. If so, then you can file a bug report.

09-03-2014, 01:14 PM	#15
dmstarr Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2014 Device: none	All Sorry for the delay in replying; i thought the mobileread site would trigger emails when folks responded. Probably a preference I need to set. First: Someone had suggested going epub->epub first to see if that cleaned the offending tags. I just wanted to mention for reference that I had tried that with no success. Second: I did try the older version of Calibre and definitely got past the crash. Thanks! I really appreciate the guidance. I have a feeling that the issue is with RoboHelp tags that seem to play fine in HTML but may not be easy for Calibre to discard. I don't think I can use the search/replace to fully purge those as they are a block of javascript type code with params that vary. The one thing that does not seem to parse properly still (for PDF output), but at least does not crash, are the javascript popups we use. These behave correctly in the epub but are converted to just hyperlinks in the PDF output. It looks like Calibre gracefully removes the rh- portion of the tags shown below, but does not have a way for us to specify that these should be converted to expanded text (RH does this for print/PDF output but the Calibre engine is more powerful so we'd prefer to use it). Does anyone have a suggestion for forcing popups to be expanded for output? Or should I ask that elsewhere. <?rh-dropspot_start class="dropspot" href="javascript:TextPopup(this)" id="a1" dataid="POPUP317661753" ?>Adding a server across a firewall<?rh-dropspot_end ?></p> <?rh-droptext_start class="droptext" id="POPUP317661753" style="display: none;" ?> <p>When adding a server across a firewall, (for example, when adding a Local Server located outside a firewall to a Global Manager located inside the firewall) do the following:</p> etc etc... PS: I'd emailed the Anicesoft support folks as well to ask them a) about the Calibre conflict above and b) what price they would be charging after the 30 day trial period expired. Quite interestingly, I never got an answer to either question. Perhaps no one is monitoring their site anymore.

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