On Mon, 2007-03-05 at 22:20 +0000, George Wright wrote: > So, your major objection to real is that it isn't free software?
I can't speak for Andy, but my main objection to the Real formats is that they _cannot_ be implemented in free software. It's a proprietary format, not an open standard. Even if it were documented, it is (I believe) covered by patents which would prevent freely-available implementations. Even mp3 is problematic because of the patents, although it's widely implemented anyway. Ogg would be much better. But Real does at least exist for Linux/PowerPC which is what I mostly use these days, so pragmatically speaking it isn't _quite_ as bad as it could be. > Most things on Windows look like trojans to me. The fact that Real > looked bad for you on windows doesn't make it bad for me on GNU/Linux or > Sol, or whatever.... The Real codec libraries work quite nicely in xine and other players. They don't _look_ like anything, by themselves. > However, no-one uses ogg (see James Cridland's mail about Virgin's ogg), My apologies; I haven't seen the mail in question and it doesn't leap out of the archives at me. Do you have a reference? > and we (the BBC) make stuff that we want people to use. We also make our > own codecs, which I'm sure one day we hope people will also use. That's a recursive argument. If the BBC made its content available in Ogg, more of the BBC's audience would use Ogg. The _important_ point, IMHO, is that Ogg is freely available, both libre and gratis. It need never be a barrier to legal listening. Operating systems don't ship with Real support either -- you have to install that too. > In the meantime, people do use real. I use Ogg. I'm not all people. The > BBC has done ogg trials, and might do them again. It seems curious to > blame real for the fact that people don't use ogg, or to ignore their > implementation of a free server in favour of an ogg one - or have I got > your argument the wrong way around? I think perhaps you've missed the point. The Helix server and player are _fine_ if it's Ogg you're serving or playing. It's the Real _formats_ which are problematic. > 1) there's some source available under sane licences. The important part -- and in fact I would say the only relevant part -- is the codecs. And the source for those is not available. -- dwmw2 - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
