People are pointing out this is likely a rewrite. Fun, anyway.

I'm not a flash guy so I'm not sure about this, but isn't it possible to decompile flash?

No need, I released the source as GPL. It was legal for them to just take it.

Well, if you want a job at Google working on Photosynth for Google Earth, you could try asking them...

Hmm... very interesting. Flash is sent to the browser as a binary then, right? The GPL says that any derived works which are distributed as binaries must have the source code (including the changes) made available publicly.

Out of curiosity and to maintain the openness of open source software, it might not be a bad idea to mention to Google that the app looks to use GPL software and request to see the source. Of course, if they rewrote it, this is a bit more complicated (a line-by-line rewrite, or an interface-based rewrite?), but it might be worth a shot.

I wouldn't want anyone to do that. It is a good thing that photo VR is becoming mainstream.

Yes, but it's also a good thing that open source software is becoming mainstream. If companies are able to present someone else's open source work as their own, without even giving any credit, it destroys a huge part of the incentive for writing open source software in the first place (recognition).

I wasn't saying that the author should try to get the content taken down. I was just saying that he deserves either:

(1) a clarification from Google saying that they liked the interface and did an interface-based rewrite without consulting the his source code

-or-

(2) a release of the modified source code (as the GPL requires)

I'm not trying to stop photo VR from becoming mainstream. Since when does open-sourcing something prevent it from becoming mainstream?

Yeah, I meant as a way to confirm that they are really using it?

Ah I see, sorry I didn't understand you. Too lazy to decompile the Flash code, but the JavaScript is unfamiliar to me and seems to indicate a rewrite.