The BigBoss Repository Controversy [Updated]

Lately, there has been some controversy surrounding Sleepers.net and the BigBoss repository.

According to Sleepers.net, BigBoss took the repository away without their consent or knowledge.

As most of you know Mark [BigBoss] left and took the entire Repository and the BigBoss brand with him, without our knowledge or consent. So be it, this is something we are working on resolving.


Sleepers.net is now contacting developers that previously hosted on BigBoss requesting they use the new revamped Sleepers.net repo.

When you receive this email you will have login information to your iPhone Application management area and you will see the list of APPS that you hosted with us in the past. If you do not reply to the email to activate your account in our iPhone developers portal within 1 week the account will automatically be deleted and all packages associated with it. If you decide to host your app[s] with us at a later point in time you will have to go through the approval process and re-upload all of your apps to the system again.

Tonight BigBoss posted a lengthy article on the history of the BigBoss repository...

For those of you that may find this interesting, I thought I would explain a bit about the layout and history of the BigBoss repository.
...
December 2007: BigBoss was looking for a host because it was too much traffic for his little home network connection. Sleepers stepped up to offer hosting. The repostory, still "BigBoss repository" moved to sleepers.net for hosting.
...
October 2008: BigBoss moves hosting away from sleepers.net hosting the repostiory on his own servers only. Since the domain was always thebigboss.org or bigboss.us.com (same domain) there was no change noticed or required.



You can find BigBoss' History of the BigBoss repository here

UPDATE***:
Saurik creator of Cydia has commented to Sleepers.net concerned about this controversy.

(This is the author of Cydia.) I am concerned by the fact that you have decided to subvert one of the features I have been working on for Cydia, specifically comments. I am additionally concerned that you have decided to do your repository roll-out in a way that wages war (and creates user confusion) against an existing repository. This is not a very intelligent way to enter a market: making a fast enemy of the platform provider you are relying on.

Sleepers.net has now responded saying

Hi Saurik,

We apologize for the confusion, but any comments and the other parts of the system will be a self contained system, by way of a message board, specifically vBulletin. We are not tying into any part of the Cydia system, other then providing an additional url for users to input manually as an additional source. I am unclear as to your statement “by the fact that you have decided to subvert one of the features I have been working on for Cydia, specifically comments”, what does this mean specifically? We are not implementing anything to subvert the communities or your development efforts to your package.

As far as waging war against another repository, we are in no way trying to accomplish this, we are simply offering the services that we offered to iPhone developers since December of 07.

Sleepers was meant to be a community source from day one and we will continue to keep it as such, because the person that was in charge of the packaging portion of the system and approval of same for the repository decided to leave and take all of the packages off of our systems without our knowledge or consent was that persons choice. We have no animosity towards that person and wish him well. He is a big contributer to the community and I personally enjoy the apps that he has developed! Yes, I do visit his blog and enjoy the material he writes!

Sleepers, from it conception was meant to be a free repository that hosts iPhone applications for free. The blog portion of the site was meant to talk about all of the developers applications, not any one in particular developer. This is not what the intent was, but unfortunately that is the way that the site turned out. Well, that person has his own site where he can talk about his apps all day long, that is not Sleepers, and it will never be about one developer again.

We do not look at this as just entering the market, we have been in the market for a long time, we are simply putting our systems back online for the better of the community as a whole. I am actually beside myself that after all of this time you have decided to make a statement such as this in a public forum.

Sleepers was a big part of Cydia and our site has always helped promote your application, we are making no claim to anyone, nor to any group. We are simply re-implementing the repository to the way that it used to be. If our list of iPhone developers, that hosted with us in the past, do not wish to host packages and utilize the list of services we are rolling out to them that is their choice.

We are not the ones who have contributed any confusion to end users. The applications that are on our systems are outdated, it is up to the developer that owns the app if they want to upgrade the package or not. Again, if they do not reply to the email within a week all of their packages will be deleted. We are not going to release any outdated packages to users.

I am just wondering:

Why is this your first post on this site?
Why have you decided to single out this repository out of many?
Why do you claim we are going to cause confusion?
How are we making an enemy out of you?
Why these claims and statements against us?
Why do you feel we are JUST entering the market?
Is your application not built for the community and all hosting repositories?

We do feel obligated [to our over 12,000,000 unique visitors per month] to provide our visitors with what they have grown accustomed to seeing.

New applications.
Reviews on applications
Site and iPhone news.

This comment of yours

"making a fast enemy of the platform
provider you are relying on."

almost seems as if we are getting bullied out of our place in the iPhone community.

Is this your intent?


And finally we have Saurik's reply

Why is this your first post on this site?
Because I had not ever visited your website before today. Today I was told that you were creating a new repository that was likely to contain duplicated packages, and decided to check it out. One might just as well as "why did you only post this post today"? Why would have I posted to your site yesterday, is there something I should have seen yesterday?

Why have you decided to single out this repository out of many?
— First off, I am in the face of many repositories. Please do not claim that I am somehow singling you out. Your's is just the only one where "first contact" occurred from me being told to read a website, so this is the only one you would have seen the response to.

Why do you claim we are going to cause confusion?
— I have been told you were likely to A) contain duplicate packages and B) re-host a core package file from my repository (many currently consider the ability that someone could do this at all a security flaw in Cydia, and I believe I concur, but so far no one has had a sufficiently awesome user community to start with to be able to subvert anyone; I have been told your website is larger than most).

How are we making an enemy out of you?
— I have been working for a while now, coordinating with all of the repositories in the Cydia community, on how to handle ratings in a centralized fashion within the Cydia interface as part of the existing experience. Your "just for my repository" ratings system, if it is shown in the Cydia browser as part of a package Depiction (something you still seem to be indicating it will, from our conversations by e-mail), threatens this roadmap and may cause serious confusion with users who are trying to use it, as the two ratings system will be displayed very near to each other on the same screen in Cydia. I take the fact that you are doing this as an outsider to the community at large rather seriously.

Why these claims and statements against us?
— I feel like this question is redundant.

Why do you feel we are JUST entering the market?
— Because I have a list of all of the repositories in the system, and next to them I have the names of all of the contacts, and you aren't on them. The "market" that I am looking at, and the market I was referring to, is the market of Cydia repositories. Please note that Cydia != Installer, especially not Installer 3.x. If your claims are true for what you have done for the community: that's great, but you are just entering the world of Cydia and are doing it in such a way that has already alienated the guy who writes the software you are relying on.

Is your application not built for the community and all hosting repositories?
— Yes, and until I dragged you into it today (such as forcing you to join the cydia-packagers mailing list, which you weren't on), you haven't been a member of said community. "We", as a community, are working towards building something truly interesting, together: all of the major repositories (and some of the minor ones from some of the larger culture-specifics, like iPhoneIslam) stay in close communication so we can maintain a common roadmap and mostly standardize on both package detail layouts and section names. We do this on our mailing list and some IRC channels, none of which you have ever been on. I therefore am terribly concerned that you are going to cause a large number of users serious confusion and pain.