Bukkit: It's time to say ...

Discussion in 'Community News and Announcements' started by EvilSeph, Aug 21, 2014.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Offline

    EvilSeph

    [​IMG]


    When we first set out to add our personal touch to what hMod offered the community 3 and a half years ago, none of us foresaw the success the Bukkit project would end up having. From a rocky start that wasn't of our own making (hMod suddenly disappeared without warning while we were just starting up the project, leaving us ill-prepared to fill the void left over), we stepped up to the challenge and managed to put together a usable, respectable alternative to other server mods. We even went so far as to improve on the Minecraft server itself. I can proudly and confidently say that Bukkit was and is a success: not only were we able to provide a platform for hundreds of thousands of Developers to build upon and make use of, we were also frequently providing our Server Admins with peace of mind knowing that the latest exploits and security holes were addressed in a timely and responsible manner.

    From the get go we were plagued with issues and obstacles we needed to overcome, one of which we were sadly unable to tackle despite our best efforts: the legal barrier of licensing and permission. When starting the Bukkit project and even getting involved with hMod before that, we all knew that our work - no matter how well-intentioned - fell into a dangerous legal grey area. As such, my first priority at the start was to do things right: contact Mojang to try and get permission to continue on with the project and discuss our licensing. Unfortunately, while we did get into contact with Mojang and managed to have a chat with Notch and Jeb themselves (who have said that they don't like our methods but understand that there isn't any alternative and are thus fine with what we were and are doing), we never did get an official meeting with their business side to get legally sound permission to continue as we were and were unable to sort out our licensing issues. To this day we find our project in limbo with a half-applied license some could argue is invalid and little power on our end to do anything about the situation.

    With that realisation came a nagging unease at the back of our minds that at any point in time Mojang could decide they didn't like what we were doing and shut us down - something we were all expecting for the first year or so of the project's life but, to our surprise, never occurred. Naturally, Mojang's conscious decision to not take action on our project gave us the confidence to continue on (something which I'm sure Server Admins out there can relate to given the recent, sudden and unexpected EULA enforcement) and we even later got further confirmation from Notch himself that we were and are allowed to keep proceeding as we always had.

    Fast forward to more recent times and Mojang have made the abrupt and sudden decision to start enforcing their EULA in an effort to quell the outlook of Minecraft being pay to win. While I can completely understand where they are coming from and support their mission to shut down pay to win servers, it's difficult to be supportive of their abrupt turn-around with enforcing rules they consciously decided not to enforce since the start of Minecraft. On top of this, there are also clauses - which it would be irresponsible of us not to be aware of - within the now suddenly enforced EULA that directly affect the Bukkit project.

    Most notably: "The one major rule is that you must not distribute anything we've made". While the EULA does go on to try and clarify what is meant by "anything we've made", I feel that it only serves to confuse the situation even more so. At the end of the day, it seems that Mojang can determine what is a "mod, plugin or hack" of their game on the fly and their recent abrupt turn-around on enforcing the EULA has us understandably worried. Couple this with the fact that it isn't legally viable or acceptable to enforce the EULA piecemeal and our future is clear.

    At this point in time, I think it's safe to say that it's no longer worth it for us to put up a fight when it comes to keeping Bukkit and modding alive. With large and significant changes coming in Minecraft 1.8 that we'll be hard pressed to provide support for and the lack of support from Mojang with updates since acquiring our original core team (Mojang used to provide us with mappings to speed up the update process), there is little motivation for us to continue limping on across various aspects of the project. From a project management standpoint, it's become increasingly difficult to find willing and able individuals to help out the project on a purely voluntary basis due to people losing interest in Minecraft or people looking for something more. Simply put, this was ultimately the final nail in the coffin.

    Nonetheless, no one can deny that we've had a fantastic run as a project. This is due in no small part to the support we received and continue to receive from both the Minecraft community and the many companies and organisations that have graciously chosen to support us with a ridiculous amount of resources, infrastructure and backing - far more than we could have ever asked for. No amount of words can adequately express the gratitude we have for all our sponsors who have supported us through our journey and ensured Bukkit had the infrastructure required to be the vast success it is today. To list all of what these sponsors have done for us would be a post equal in length to this one, so we will unfortunately need to keep it brief. We want to give huge shout-outs and thanks to: eXophase.com for getting us off our feet and hosting us at the start; Multiplay and Curse for swooping in and providing us with (emergency) hosting we continue to use to this day including dl.bukkit.org and our BukkitDev service; as well as AllGamer for providing us test servers whenever we needed a server to certify update and promoted builds or attempt to reproduce a bug report.

    Last, but definitely not least, we'd like to thank the many staff, both past and present, that have volunteered countless hours over the years. I am at a loss for words to express just how much these people have meant to the project and to myself. The core team who have constantly worked hard to update to every new Minecraft version, while adding in new API and improving the server itself. The BukkitDev staff who spend countless hours checking over the fantastic plugins our community creates. Our moderation staff keeping our forums orderly and safe for all people seeking out a great community to be a part of. Additionally, the many unsung people who have helped in various ways despite having no official title, simply because there was work to do. Finally, my administrators, who have tirelessly helped me keep the project functioning as a whole. I would especially like to thank TnT and mbaxter for sticking through it with me to the end, always ready to discuss an issue and provide me with advice.

    It's been a fantastic 3 and a half years of providing what we believe to be the absolute best modding platform for the wonderful Minecraft community to use. We really enjoyed seeing the amazing feats our many Developers and Server Admins achieved with the product we provided and continue to be amazed every day at the ingenuity our community shows. Thanks for everyone's continued support! It has and will continue to mean the world to us. Together we were able to provide a Minecraft server used by hundreds of thousands of servers out there (with our last Recommended Build having over 2.6 million downloads!), which is certainly something to be proud of and a great note to end on.

    This is the end, it's time to say goodbye. It's been an amazing run and we achieved much more than anyone thought was possible, even ultimately culminating in Mojang hiring our original core team. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and the Bukkit project has run its course, leaving me to make one final - incredibly difficult - decision to shut down the project I’ve poured 3 and a half years of my life into which means so much to me. We're no longer able to confidently distribute our modified versions of the Minecraft server and it is no longer smart for us to continue with our update process. Sadly, this means we will NOT be updating Bukkit nor CraftBukkit for Minecraft 1.8 and, since Minecraft 1.7.10 introduced the EULA enforcement, we will be placing the project under a code freeze for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, due to obvious legal reasons we will not be helping anyone else complete any updates nor sharing our methods despite any desire to the contrary. Although the project itself will essentially be no more, we'll continue to support our community, the forums, IRC and BukkitDev as long as we are able and as long as our partners support us with the resources and infrastructure to do so.

    As for us? Well, who knows? Maybe we'll find another game, program or project to be passionate about and we'll be back with a vengeance? Only time will tell, but I hope that we'll see you around the next passion-project of ours when it happens :)


    [lukegb]There's more to come on this. Please read this for more information about where we stand.[/lukegb]
     
  2. Offline

    kyle939

    Time for me to learn how to setup a server using the Minecraft server!
     
  3. Offline

    saki2fifty

    How is that the worst part? I would think the worst part was when Mojang's own employee Jens, or whoever actually did it, contacted Curse, killed EvilSephs accounts, and got the accounts and passwords changed... all without being professional and working things out. Instead, they discredited all that work in a mere few postings.

    Without Minecraft, you wouldn't be here.
    Without Bukkit, you wouldn't be here.
    Without Microsoft, we'd all be playing Mario Bros. v.127.056.

    Each have made mistakes, but give credit where credit is due.
     
    justcool393 likes this.
  4. Offline

    fcernese

    The first thing I expect Microsoft to do is make you pay for a license to run a server. Then they are going to make you pay for the number of users you want to support on your server.
     
  5. Offline

    saki2fifty

    Why is that the first thing you expect Microsoft to do? Because all of their Enterprise Class client/server software has licensing options attached to it?

    Well, Bukkit is not Enterprise class... it's a game. I expect that to never happen. What other Microsoft games do you purchase where you have to purchase a separate license for the server aspect... and then to buy additional seats for additional "slots"? If you find one, then also list all of the other games that don't require a separate license for comparisons sake.

    Without Minecraft, you wouldn't be here.
    Without Bukkit, you wouldn't be here.
    Without Microsoft, we'd all be playing Mario Bros. v.127.056.
     
  6. Offline

    And7rey

    This is really unbelievable, I never thought this'll happen, and in such a short period. First the new EULA which killed many servers, than no more bukkit which will kill probably about 90% of all servers. And Mojang has been even sold to Microsoft. A month ago everything was ok and now... Without Bukkit, Minecraft is dead in my eyes, Nobody will play singleplayer for long, vanilla will also become boring, without bukkit, and without plugins this game won't last longer. This is really hard to believe... But anyways , this was a great project , great job Bukkit [creeper]
     
  7. Offline

    SerphKai

    It's not over.
    I just told Mojang to counter the DMCA Copyright notice between Bukkit-Bleeding and Bukkit.

    I saw the fork icon with the text "forked from Bukkit-Bleeding" then when I looked at the original. "forked from Bukkit"
    WE CAN SAVE BUKKIT!
    WE CAN SAVE IT!
     
  8. Offline

    TGRHavoc

    I think someone has the wrong idea of what "full-time" means..
     
  9. Offline

    Maximvdw

    And your point is.. ?
     
  10. Offline

    Vasileff

    umm.... yeah, right. You just sit and watch how Minecraft turns into piece of not-so-good. Just like everything else Microsoft lays their hands on. Let me give you an example.
    Do you remember Skype before MS? It was an awesome messanger. Now it's nothing but cutting voice, freezing cam, awful UI, bugged user status that shows you online even when your PC is turned off.
    Another example is Windows 8/8.1.. Yeah, it sure is good... for tablets and other touchscreen devices (even though it's so fugly), but definitely not for PCs. Not to mention all the useful stuff in Win 7 that they removed in 8 (like the Gadgets for one).

    So, no... Without Micro$hit we'd all be using Macs or PCs running on Linux.
     
  11. Offline

    rcade

    I'm not going to defend everything Microsoft has done, but its track record in gaming is pretty good in my opinion. The company was ridiculed when it announced plans to launch the XBox gaming console, and 13 years later it's a fantastic gaming system. Microsoft bought Bungie before the launch of Halo, and it went on to become a billion-dollar franchise.

    It's possible Microsoft will do a good job on Minecraft too.
     
    blobic123 and saki2fifty like this.
  12. Offline

    Vasileff

    Maybe. Maybe not. In my opinion, this is pretty much the end of Minecraft. From what I've seen in the last few years, it seems that Microsoft has a thing for "fixing" and "improving" perfectly working things, so... I'd be happy if I'm wrong about this, but I really doubt it. Anyway, the time will tell.
     
  13. Offline

    Arklelinuke

    Ok, may get some hate for this, but I feel like others feel the same way as I do, so I don't really care.

    I think this whole situation is bullshit. I will agree with the others saying thanks for what's been done, but damnit, you're leaving pretty much the entire MC server staff community high and dry with the selfishness of filing a DMCA on your own damn code. If you ever truly cared about your Bukkit project, you'd let Mojang continue to use it (or need I remind you that the code license was null from the beginning by using proprietary Mojang code?). You let them use the code, Bukkit isn't the "dead project" that everyone says it is. Unless you're so hellbent on being right that you don't allow them to use the code to continue YOUR ORIGINAL VISION because of GREED, this project IS NOT DEAD. That decision lies with all you code contributors, and your MC legacy is tied up in that decision. Choose wisely.
     
  14. Offline

    saki2fifty

    Are you sure its not your pc? Mine works perfect! Never freezes, status is functional, and when compared to something like TS, the sound is great with no cracking...

    Ah... so you're saying that Windows 7 was "useful" then. So then Microsoft did do something good!

    Because of all of the possible legal issues that have come up with Bukkit and Mojang, do you think it would be a wise decision to allow Bukkit to continue? I personally have no idea, and I want it to continue, but someone is going to be liable if ever there is a lawsuit.
     
  15. Offline

    Vasileff

    Just go and browse the Skype community. You'll see what I mean. And no, it's not my PC. Actually it's a 4 months old laptop Lenovo Z510 (my worst purchase ever as it's Win 8 optimized and Win 7 doesn't run well on it). Most of the new games run smoothly on it, so there's no reason for the Skype not to. My internet connection is pretty good too. Plus, there're lots of people experiencing the problems I mentioned in my previous post. So, no. It's not my computer.

    And yes, Windows 7 is awesome. I love it. But that was like.... 7(?).. years ago? Like I said, for the last few years they didn't come up with anything good. Tell me.. If their products are so good, then why most people use Skype and not MSN Messenger? Why Microsoft would buy a third party software instead of improving their own? My answer: because they suck at it. And since Microsoft broke Skype to a point where you can no longer have a conversation free of cuts and freezes, people just found a better solution - Viber.
     
    roracle likes this.
  16. Offline

    saki2fifty

    List the things you don't like about Windows 8... im curious why you dislike it so much. Is it the tiles?

    Personally, I love it. You can search for stuff much quicker than you can on W7, you now have a store, you still have the same Desktop as W7... so, not much has really changed for me.

    So you're bashing Microsoft because of Skype? What else? Windows 8? The SIMS?

    Out of the 500 million Skype users, how many complaints are you seeing? Do you see those same problems on your own computer? And those problems that you mentioned, were they recent problems... like in 2014? Or are you talking problems back in 2012?

    Just for comparison sake, I just went out to Apple's discussion forum, picked a random OS, and its riddled with problems people are having. Does that mean its a bad OS? Absolutely not. Do I like that OS? It's ok, but what I don't like is when people flock to something with false justification.

    But wait a second... you said that your recent W8 laptop purchase was the worst purchase ever... then you said "W7 doesn't run well on it" (that tells me that you went back to using W8 because it runs ok?), and "most games run smoothly", and "internet connect is pretty good", so where's the problem with your W8 laptop? So is it Skype then?

    Apple has had the same amount of time that Microsoft has. Only the strong (and intuitive) survive.
     
  17. Try to relate that to real life on a larger scale :p.
     
  18. Offline

    Jacobe5000

    you cant download any more ;(
     
  19. Healed from downloads! Thanks ... something.
     
  20. You changed my life guys. Thanks.
     
  21. Offline

    Mr.Crafty

    DinnerBone might continue Bukkit and update to 1.8 :D. Also Microsoft might make and actual Plugin API. Don't give up. #SAVEMC
     
  22. Offline

    MaximumOfEnter

    But wait, you can tell Microsoft how bukkit was used and what 99.99999999999% servers use it and ask permission to continue it, or you can join them and create new project, make vanilla server support plugins, do not forget, Microsoft brought Mojang and minecraft, ask a mojang member to explain to Microsoft the point of bukkit
     
  23. Offline

    Kait Suzuki

    bukkit team please recontinue the project or at least allow members to download the server files. Now it is impossible to create a bukkit server unless that person has downloaded it before and has kept the files. I myself have created a server but am unable to make it a hub server due to the fact that i can not download the server files.
     
  24. Offline

    xPurplecrisisx

    If this does not get fix im done gamming.
    It feels like a 1000 sun are crushing me.
     
  25. Offline

    Vasileff

    There's a lot of things I don't like about Win 8. With some of them I can get used to. But I'm never going to like the ugly interface, the actve corners/sides, the Metro and the lack of gadgets. Actually there's only one thing I like about Win 8. It's the fast boot/shut down. Anything else is either ugly/buggy or it's just useless to me.

    Out of the 500mil Skype users I see a lot of complaints (never counted them though). Also almost all of my Skype friends I've spoke with got exactly the same problems I do. Some of them even started using Facebook for voice/cam instead of Skype, others switched to Viber. They all experience the "online status" issue which started like half an year ago for me. Not to mention that another part of them (those who use skype only for messages) rolled back to version 3.8 because of the ugliness of the next versions.

    As for my laptop... Yes, Win 7 doesn't run well because of the crappy drivers. So I had to go back to Win 8. But I never said that Win 8 runs well. I'm constantly experiencing Wi-Fi problems, sound and graphics problems random reboots/hangs... And most of those appear right after Microsoft releases new updates. I've aready hid like 4 or 5 of them. For example , a week ago there was an optional update for my Intel video card. Installed it and the BSOD drama began. Had to use System restore in order get rid of it. In two words - I strongly dislike Win 8, but in my case I'm "forced" to use it, as it runs a little bit better then Win 7.
     
  26. Offline

    DrPyroCupcake

    That isn't the problem. Wolf is the problem with the DMCA.

    Like I said above, it is not up to them. Because Wolf has instated a DMCA they cannot provide a download link. You can try Sponge or Glowstone.

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 9, 2016
  27. Offline

    CactusComboPvP

  28. Make a drawing with the time-line for statements and events around Bukkit/CraftBukkit/Mojang/Microsoft. It'll be clear that this statement was between EvilSeph "dropping the Bukket" and Wolvereness DMCA-ing the whole damn thing.
     
  29. Offline

    Tibor

    I love all of you guys everyone who have done thinks for bukkit GREAT LOVE!
     
  30. Offline

    Crafty Zman

    You guys cant leave please, microsoft now owns mojang, maybe the'll change the eula please, i have used bukkit for so long down, and of you don't continue this, i will, i will do anything, i wouldnt mind even trying to take over the company, or even give bukkit to spigot but you cant just leave like this please you have to do something :(
    You have to let someone take over, leaving isn't an option DONT GIVE UP!
     
  31. Offline

    JWhy

    There are upcoming successors of Bukkit, so this isn't the end of custom Minecraft servers
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page