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Re:How Three Germans Are Cloning the Web by pg on Friday March 02, 2012 @06:15PM (#3658762)
The term I was thinking of is "knock-off artists."

I don't like what they do. It's ok to take an existing idea and adapt it. E.g. to try to make a web-based version of a desktop app. But there is something contemptible about copying something so literally that you even copy the mistakes.

Re:How Three Germans Are Cloning the Web by intellectronica on Sunday March 04, 2012 @05:37PM (#3664376)
It does smell a bit funny, but in a way what they do is not just copy an app but rather create an international / European knock-off. They identified a weakness in the way American startups operate - concentrating on the American and/or English-speaking market for very long while neglecting the rest of the world, and they're taking advantage of that. Their business model would become obsolete if startups became better at addressing international markets.