Ok, so we did some major stuff at Fluendo before I ran off to go home to Norway for Christmas. The first thing, which I hope to send out some
announcements on today, is that we released a cost free MP3 plugin to the world. You can read our press release about it here and find more information on our MP3 information page, including source code information. The binary (for GStreamer 0.10) is available from our
webshop which we also officially opened now (and plan to add more plugins to as soon as they pass through our newly minted beta program). A big part of this is that we also offer a cost free distribution agreement for distributions, allowing any distribution which wants it to ship with working GStreamer mp3 support out of the box. Due to the patents involved the mp3 plugin will of course not technically be free software (even if we have made the source code available under the MIT license) so only Banshee and Totem currently can be shipped with it currently, although some other projects do have efforts underway to add an excemption clause like Totem’s, and also some of the newer projects like Pitivi use the LGPL to be compatible.
Fluendo jobs in France
Fluendo also have a French subsidiary now, in Lyon. In that regard we are hiring a couple of developers to work in Lyon with us on our multimediabox/media center software. You find information on the job
here at monster.fr. I encourage anyone who reads this to repost this job add to any french language mailing list and IRC channel where it would be relevant.
This is really *great news*. I think you are really doing the Right Thing guys!
I have to say you done almost impossible. To tackle all this patent absurd (luckly, we have stop any chances for softpatents in EU so far), we need to be clever. This is one how it could be done and it is good to see some solutions. Of course, RMS would bash you, but I solute you. :)
Thanks again.
from http://www.fluendo.com/resources/Contract_for_Distributions_mp3.pdf
The Distributor is a software provider which distributes to the public a compilation of software (the “Distribution”) composed by several applications to be running under the GNU/Linux or other operating system on a Personal Computer Desktop system.
2. Except as expressly authorized by Fluendo in writing,
it is forbidden to:
…
(vii) use this Final Product on non-PC devices like tablets, pda, portable players and other embeded devices.
how can any distribution agree to this? tablets are plane laptops with a special screen. also if i understand this right, one can not use the plugins on a server.
Wow, this is really cool – will this mean that most distro’s will ship with mp3 support out of the box? Or will the licensing wierdness prevent this?
Don’t expect to see this shipped out of the box, for mainly two problems:
1) if you ship this plugin, you can’t ship GPL apps that use gstreamer (like Rhythmbox or Amarok).
2) if you ship this plugin you’re shipping non-free software, which rules out distros like Debian, Fedora and openSUSE.