On Tue, Mar 20, 2007 at 07:10:09AM -0500, Jimmy Bradley wrote: > I don't know what kind of agreement Mandriva/Mandrake has, but their > distro will play MP3 files. You still have to download and install > libdvdcss in order to play dvd's though. I run a number of different > distros on my machines. 5 machines, five different distros, and each one > has it's good points and bad points. I have yet to find a distro that is > totally perfect. > just my 2cents worth > Jim The main difference here is that Mandriva is not based in the USA so US patent law doesn't come into view immediately. They may still get sued for allowing people in the USA to download their software, but this is less likely than the danger to RedHat, being an US based company. Then again, I haven't used Mandriva in years (actually, it was mandrake back then), so I'm not even sure if it really includes mp3 support out of the box. In Ubuntu, you will have to anable the "multiverse" (non-free) repository yourself, that way the people behind Ubuntu think they ensure they are not to be held accountable for the legality of the software installed through that chhannel. And yes, that is slightly easier than figuring out how to do the same thing in Fedora, since the fedora configuration files, release notes and official documents do not mention repositories such as Livna or Freshrpms Apparently the RedHat lawyers think that even providing a link to a site that offers software that might not be legal in the USA, may cause problems for RedHat. Weird perhaps, but all the weirdness is legal, not technical. David Jansen
