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14.0 - Notices

14.1 - Moe's CuteSDR Notice

SdrDx was originally developed from CuteSdr. Because of this, and because of the terms of the BSD license, the following notice must be included. However, as this is not actually CuteSdr, and no longer contains more than single-digit percentages of Moe's actual source code, the terms themselves do not apply.

+ + + This Software (CuteSDR - not SdrDx) is released under the "Simplified BSD License"
+ + + Copyright 2010 Moe Wheatley. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE (CuteSDR - Not SdrDx) IS PROVIDED BY Moe Wheatley "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL Moe Wheatley OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

The views and conclusions contained in the software and documentation are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either expressed or implied, of Moe Wheatley.

14.2 - Ben's SdrDx Notice

SdrDx was originally based off of CuteSDR. For various reasons, I've replaced almost all the code in the original application, right down to the networking and demodulator code; so while SdrDx started with CuteSDR, it isn't the same application at this point. I am enormously grateful to Moe for contributing CuteSDR to the community, as it motivated me to work with coding in this particular area of DSP.

You are, of course, using the software (variously SdrDx, SwDb and all associated supplied scripts or those of others or your own) at your own risk. I truly hope you enjoy doing so, as I've put a lot of hours into this with the idea that we — most definitely including me — have some cool radio software to play with. That's really all I have to say about it.

Please be aware that I'm not licensing the executable to you. I'm giving it to you; your choice to use it or not is entirely your own responsibility. I'd ask that you not disassemble and reconstitute the executable, but I can't order you not to do so, for as I just said, I have given it to you, and you own it. More on this policy may be found here.

14.3 - Privacy -- Please Read

When SdrDx starts, if it has network access to the Internet, it "phones home" to fyngyrz.com for two reasons.

14.3.1 - Notification of Available Upgrade

First, it obtains the latest available version, revision, step and beta levels so it can tell you (in the program's title bar) if you have the latest version; also SdrDx will display an informational message automatically on startup that comes from fyngyrz.com — the purpose of this message is to inform users that there is an update available, or other important, SdrDx-relevant information. This message will display automatically, one time upon startup, when the content of the message changes. You can re-display the message manually by using the Display Last Update function available in the key remapping system.

14.3.2 - Statistics Gathering

Second, it reports in with its own identifier, version, revision, step and beta levels, as well as indicating what platform (Windows, OS X, etc.) it is running on so that I may track what versions are in use and the general level of interest in the software. The details are as follows.

Beginning with 2.13v, during its first successful request for the most current version, for each installation of the software, SdrDx obtains and saves a unique numeric installation ID. This identifier is used to prevent taking statistics multiple times for dynamically assigned IP addresses. If the installation is never given access to the Internet, it simply won't be able to learn and report to the user what the latest software version is. There is no effect on the program's functionality. The numeric ID is displayed in the program's title bar in order that I may assist specific end users with debugging when and if the need arises.

Beginning with 2.13y, SdrDx reports the previous run time -- that is, how long the program ran before it was shut down in an orderly fashion. This is done to determine stability, and to gauge general interest levels.

During each report in, the IP address the report is coming from is also saved in order that the statistics for multiple copies running within one LAN may be assigned to a more-or-less unique identifier without having to bother anyone with registering number of copies in use or any of that sort of annoyance.

None of this data is used for anything but enhancing debugging and to generate usage statistics which in turn are used to help me in planning development of the software. None of this collected data is, or ever will be, shared with anyone.

14.3.2.1 - But on the other hand...

If you would like to share your name, "handle", or amateur radio callsign, I can enter that in the database associated with your software's serial number and I'll see you in the usage reports each time you use SdrDx. The benefit? Minor, but real: I'll probably recognize you if you email me or post on fyngyrz.com and so forth, and I'll learn what SDRs you in particular are using, which in turn affects my decisions about what to support, and how thoroughly. Further, like anyone, I respond differently to random people than I do to people I recognize. I confess to feeling a distinct appreciation for users of my software — we share a hobby, after all. You can email anything you'd like to share — name, handle, callsign, you just tell me what to use — Please send anything along these lines to me using fyngyrz@gmail.com

14.3.3 - Longevity and Resilience

When it comes to pass (not soon, I hope!) that fyngyrz.com is no longer on the net, as will almost certainly happen when I shuffle off this mortal coil, SdrDx will simply begin reporting (in the title bar of its own window, without interfering with operation) that it can't get to fyngyrz.com — you don't have to worry about this sort of thing ever making the software stop running. I despise software with arbitrary execution limits, and I expect any user who has really thought about it does as well.

As long as you can keep an environment around, virtual or actual, with the hardware and software requirements that are similar enough to the OS X and/or Windows environments SdrDx was designed for, it will continue to operate. Likely even better as machines get faster! Although... watch out for things like Apple's new App Nap; luckily, you can turn that particular "feature" off on a per-application basis — and you should!

If you are unwilling to participate in this type of data retrieval, or even just uncomfortable with it, please do not use the software, or implement a no-WAN-access firewall rule specifically for SdrDx (Under OS X, "Little Snitch" can do this for you, highly recommended), or only install it on a machine with no network connection. I have no interest in making anyone uncomfortable.



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