On 11/5/07, Paul W. Frields <stickster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: <snip> > Sometimes the reason "because it makes me break out in hives" is an OK answer. Well said, its important to remember that. Sometimes I forget. <snip> > I don't see a real problem with Fluendo benefiting in some fashion from > codeina, as long as there's no lockout that prevents anyone else from > doing the same. Fluendo has devoted very significant resources to FOSS, > and although the vouching in this case is in code form, the Fedora > community has vouched for other vendors similarly before (think Intel > for one). I agree here. We actually support many different companies indirectly with our code. Every time we integrate any APIs for an online service we are in effect advertising and promoting that service. We distribute packages that integrate Google Maps, upload files to flickr, provide interfaces to the Magnatune music store, etc. I personally don't have a problem with this, as all a company needs to benefit from this is to open up their APIs and or contribute to the same project providing the user with more choice. Everyone wins here. If we ever were to exclude support for a service or product at the expense of another one, that would be a position that isn't supportable. In the case of CodecBuddy things are a bit more gray because it involves closed binaries. The problem is that when people can't play this media or that media they feel they should be able to they assume "Fedora sucks! It can't play my mp3s". CodecBuddy provides the opportunity to explain why support for such formats isn't included. Hopefully redirecting the users irritation to where it belongs: the US Patent Office. As long as we make it very clear that there are viable alternative free formats, and that supporting the non-free formats IS possible with existing open source code, it just isn't legal here in the states. I see it as an opportunity to gain support for free software as no one is going to want to pay for the other formats supported by Fluendo. They are going to want to play them however and that may motivate people to find out a bit more about why they simply "aren't allowed". -- Russell Harrison Systems Administrator -- Linux Desktops Cisco Systems, Inc. Note: The positions or opinions expressed in this email are my own. They are not necessarily those of my employer. _______________________________________________ fedora-advisory-board mailing list fedora-advisory-board@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-advisory-board
