I think people (including myself) bring up the mp3 issue because we believe red hat 'can' be a legitimate desktop threat (not just a corporate desktop) with the addition of a few multimedia pieces missing. Adding these pieces is not trivial for a non-technical user (mp3, dvd, mpg, avi, etc.) and therefore if they were included in the base install or an add-on pack, this would further the uptake of red hat in this demographic.
Personally, I think you guys are selling yourself short in this market. People (including myself) are really looking for an alternative to closed source software for our daily computing needs and feel that red hat is very close. As for the philosophical reasons, being true to the GPL is commendable, I just wish their was another way to 'have our cake and eat it too." Todd -----Original Message----- From: Mike A. Harris [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 6:30 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Thu, 27 Mar 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >If it only costs a one-time payment of $50-60K to license >mp3 decoding, why isn't Redhat doing it? Because: 1) Red Hat would have to write brand new MP3 software from the ground up that does not make any use of any existing GPL source code (because purchasing a license would not satisfy the GPL requirement of patented technology being redistributable without any restriction on redistribution) 2) It would not be true free software under the Debian Free Software Guidelines, and may have distribution restrictions or other restrictions 3) There is no economically viable reason for doing so. What businesses purchase a Linux distribution because it comes with MP3 support? Or better - which businesses will _not_ purchase a Linux distribution because it does _not_ come with MP3 support. 4) Red Hat is an open source company and MP3 is not an open source / free software friendly technology >If it's strictly to appease the GPL then couldn't they ship some type >of "add-on" pack that included this feature (and maybe the DVD encoding >as well.) This would be similar to the MS markets the Plus Pack and >would still allow Redhat to say the OS is shipped GPL compliant. Laws deal with intent. Also, shipping it at all would not make any difference from a legal perspective of wether it was incorporated directly in the distribution itself, or if it were part of an addon CD that came with the distribution. Be realistic. MP3 support is not something that millions of businesses out there are crying about missing from Red Hat Linux. I would be greatly surprised if 99% of the MP3 using userbase was not home users, most of whom download the OS for free anyway. Why do people insist on beating the MP3 issue to death like a dead horse? MP3 is not part of the distribution, and that is simply not going to change. Get over it and move on. -- Mike A. Harris ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris OS Systems Engineer - XFree86 maintainer - Red Hat -- Phoebe-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/phoebe-list -- Phoebe-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/phoebe-list
