Linked by David Adams on Tue 27th Jul 2010 07:35 UTC, submitted by sjvn
Some people hate the idea of adding proprietary software to their desktop Linux. For these people, there are Linux distributions such as gNewSense that use only free software. For the rest of us, who use distributions such as Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu, there are times we either want to, or feel forced to, add proprietary programs such as Adobe Flash or Skype or the ability to play proprietary audio and video formats such as MP3 or commercial DVDs to your Linux desktop. Here's how to do it.
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Member since:2005-07-06
RE[3]: Mplayer plugin - "algorithms"
by jabbotts on Thu 29th Jul 2010 16:51
in reply to "RE[2]: Mplayer plugin"
Member since:2007-09-06
By definition, algorithms are mathematic formula which is supposed to be un-patentable in a rational patent system. I'd say there's more than a little grey area to work within. I believe there is also some grey area which allows users to choose to download the codec though the distro may not be able to distribute it directly (hence, those non-free opt-in repositories). Last, I own a windows license including the license for the codec; shouldn't I be able to use that codec on my preferred software platform?
In the end, I'm just glad to live in a country with a more rational patent/copyright system though your government is trying to impose it's brain-damage on the rest of the world still.
Member since:2009-10-04
So it's still non-free.
No, there is a difference. Because otherwise, no software would be free. The patent system has run amok, and every piece of software you have ever used is bound to be covered by dozens of patents. So if x264 is not free, then Linux, GNOME, KDE, GLibC, Firefox, OpenOffice.org, etc. are not free either. The only difference is that x264's patents happen to be more well known, which could even be an advantage in some cases.
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Member since:
2008-12-09
x264 is not proprietary source code
its uses patented algorithms
that's a difference