Re: GNOME-media on the road to 2.4.0

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron sun com>]

Iain:

> > Right now the only thing that seems to be stopping this is the fact
> > that the players are GPL'ed.  And the GPL seems to imply that 
> > it is not acceptable to distribute GPL'ed code that is 
> > encumbered by a non-royalty-free patent.
> 
> I might be missing the point, but as the apps aren't shipping with
> patent encumbered code, then I don't see the problem.

I suppose it is not a problem for some people that GNOME's multimedia
apps can not support popular audiovideo format, but it would obviously
be a problem for those people who had an interest in playing such
files.  Especially frustrating if you own a license for playing the
format and the only thing restricting you from using it is the GPL'ed
nature of the player.

In essence, though, you are right.  This is not really a problem to
the players themselves, except perhaps an issue of adoption.  It means,
I suppose, that people with an interest in playing such formats will
find another player to use, perhaps one with a LGPL license.

Brian