FAQFAQ
General
For Safabyte's clients
We need your help
General
# What is it all about?
Bogus company called Safabyte or Component Forge is selling
components which they stole from Rebex, ComponentAce, ComponentSpace and LanapSoft, branded as their own.
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# Aha, you are just another heartless, multinational software factory whining about so-called piracy, true?
Well, no. Rebex is owned by developers and is run by developers. As I'm writing
this, Rebex is staffed by eleven geeks thriving to create the best software around.
And we are getting mad about some *** stealing our work and claiming he wrote the
whole thing himself. After all, we have to pay our mortgages and feed our children.
At least some of us ;-)
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# Rebex? What is it?
Check Rebex.NET website.
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# How is such rip off possible?
Decompiling .NET binaries using tools such as Reflector is quite easy.
The source code of Rebex component can also be purchased. However,
the license for the source code explicitly forbids releasing it as
a standalone component.
The scammers are based in Vietnam, a country with notoriously inefficient legal system
which makes any judicial action next to impossible.
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# Why are you running this site?
- To protect the clients from risks of using pirated software.
- To provide a place describing the case so anybody can draw his own conclusion.
- To make fraudsters' live harder.
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# Which component have SafaByte stolen from Rebex?
Rebex FTP, Rebex SFTP, Rebex Secure Mail and others. Check the fraud evidence for details.
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# Have they ripped off another vendors?
Yes, Rebex is not the only vendor whose code is used in this scam. Most other NetXtreme components in fact infringe on
code from ComponentAce, ComponentSpace and LanapSoft.
It's quite possible that we have not identified all the original component vendors. If you recognized a high degree of similarity between a Cforge component and a component from
another vendor, please contact us.
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# Why should I trust you? What if you stole the component from Safabyte?
Check the evidence and draw your own conclusion.
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# Safabyte, ComponentForge - are there other names?
The scammers call themselves Component Forge (or ComponentForge / Cforge) at the moment, but they were called Safabyte until recently and also own the XtremeUI.com domain.
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For Safabyte's clients
# What are the risks of using pirated components?
Are you interested in getting a cheaper, unauthorized copy of the component?
You may get more than you wanted. Quite a lot of warez is often infected with trojans and viruses
that can do a lot of harm to your computer. For example, you can get a spyware looking for your credit card info as a bonus.
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# I have purchased software from Safabyte. Why should I care?
| Pirated component from Safabyte or ComponentForge | Genuine component from Rebex and others |
|---|
| Tech support | Provided by someone who has no clue how the component works. They try to forward your questions to the real vendor under fake identities. | Provided by friendly developers who wrote the components. |
| Bugfix speed | They are unable to provide own fixes and must wait for patches or maintenance releases from the original vendor. | Private patch within 1 day to 1 week. Public maintenance release 4 times a year. |
| Stability | Doubtful. Their disassembler/reflector skills are average at best. We know that they introduced new errors in past. Some of their public releases are based on untested beta code. | Good. |
| Malware | Who knows? Would you install a code from a copyright infringer who lies to his clients? You may get
a trojan or other malware.
| None. Rebex is a reputable company which has been selling software since 1995. |
| Price | A bit cheaper. The company could disappear overnight. | Standard price. Since 2003. |
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# But they do provide support. See their support forum.
They used to. Most of their answers were written by us as an answer to
support question submitted under a fake identity. It was a bad surprise when we
discovered exactly the same answer on Safabyte support forum signed by someone
else. We are not answering these faked questions anymore and you can see for
yourself that the quality of their support went down recently.
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# Can I legally continue using the software?
No, the software is stolen and Safabyte/ComponentForge had
never had any right to sell you a license. However, you can refund your
purchase and buy the genuine component instead. See our
legalization page for details.
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# How can I get my money back?
Request a refund from their credit card processor. Mail them your
order reference number and request a refund.
Safayte used Plimus as their payment processor in 2009.
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# Can I legalize my copy? How much would it cost?
Yes, you can legalize your copy quite easily. Just send us a proof of
purchase from the fraudsters. Our price will be the same price you have
paid to Safabyte/ComponentForge. For details please see our legalization page.
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# How can I contact you, the developers at Rebex?
See our contact page.
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We need your help
# I saw a forum post advertising the stolen component. Now what?
Please post a link to this site to warn the unsuspecting readers of the forum.
Or send the link to the forum post to support@rebex.net
and we'll take care of it. Thanks!
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