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Red Hat Teams with Real Networks
GregGardner writes, "According to this press release, RedHat and Real Networks are teaming together to bring Real products to Linux. RealServer 7.0 and RealPlayer 7.0 will be physically bundled with RedHat and that RealPlayer 7 will be released for Linux within 30 days on Real's Web site. "
Just because Microsoft announced yesterday that Windows Media Server would be built into Windows 2000, does that mean we should match their every move with exactly the same thing or should we try to offer something better? All Redhat is doing is waiting for Microsoft to make every move and then they mirror the same move. That's why Rasterman left. RedHat doesn't want to create anything new. They just want to clone Microsoft by repackaging existing products that don't work.
Now, these have been asked by others (some of them at least, but I'd like to ask about them all together.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
(Yet Another Crappy Proprietary Video Standard)
I would really rather see most of these proprietary video standards go down the drain. I think most, if not all, of the functionality is present in one of the MPEG versions. AFAIK all video encoders do the same thing: DCT with quantization, and motion compensation on top of that. Big whoopee.
I'd like to see some nice MPEG streaming software as an alternative to things like this. The tech is all there, someone just has to slap it together. I'd do it, but I'm too lazy/stupid :)
What would be really swanky, and a great marketing move for Real, would be if they released a shared library for Linux and other free platforms. They don't need to release the source, just a library that can be linked against. Then we would no doubt have command line, X, GNOME, KDE, and probably some other versions of software that could play Real streams. Maybe we would also be able to make it use ALSA output, and integrate it with the X-Video extension to XFree86. The possibilities are endless with even this simple, non-open-source solution. I hope Real and RedHat are considering it.
As for the server, there is no way in hell I would run a binary-only server on my machine, especially if it wants to run as root or some such tripe.
-jwb
Think about it. Real shouts out, "YAY! we are gonna support our Real products under Linux." (the crowd rejoices) But most of us know Real's track record. Real STILL owns Xing, regardless of their stance on liunx. Real is also in the DVD software-decoding realm. The growth of RealMedia utils under linux is very welcome, but just like any good company, i'm sure that Real has a game plan. What of their involvement in the DVD/DeCSS debacle. It just seems too weird to me. I'd hate to see this deal come back to bite Linux (as a whole) on the ass. I haven't heard one peep come out of Xing about their poor implementation of the CSS encryption. RealPlayer or DVD software....doesn't matter. It still comes out of the same camp. Comments? Am i the only skeptic?
you never lose in ure razorblade shoes......Beck-Hotwax
> One more app that pushes me further toward finally deleting Windoze.
There's only one app you need for deleting windoze: It's called fdisk.
:)
Well, what about XMMS? I'm certainly not the expert here, but if it's got all the plugins that winamp does (and/or more), then I'll bet there's a plugin for XMMS that alows you to watch .rm files. Which would make Realplayer unnecessary for Linux unless it's just a better product. However, I'm not saying to not use Realplayer for Linux because we all want choice, right? That's all part of the open source ideal, no? So, I guess what I'm asking here is: How does Realplayer compare to XMMS/what we've already got? (realizing, of course, that XMMS isn't the only thing we've got for multimedia under Linux/Unix/etc....)
Insert mind here.
I'm happy to see that Red Hat is out there getting support for better linux ports. They're starting to sound a little like a lobbiest group. Of course, with M$ having very competitive products of the Real* products, this makes good business sense, too. We've seen some of this before with OS/2. I wonder if this time M$ will get competitive products out on the linux? They'll need to if they want to stay competitive.
-- Moondog
I think customers of Red Hat should let them know that they prefer that Red Hat support an open source streaming audio/media project, rather than bundling Real Networks software.
<p>
We're always in favor of something open sourced.
Please point me to an open-sourced solution for the same problem that:
<ul>
<li>is as widely in use/accepted by content providers</li>
<li>Has at least a client available for many platforms (as much as I dislike it, at this time, not many webmasters will switch to a streaming server that doesn't have a client on the evil empire's side)</li>
<li>Works reliably</li>
</ul>
(or at least will get there soon) and I'll make sure it gets included as well.
<p>Until we have something like it, I'd say having a proprietary solution on a free OS is preferable over having a proprietary solution requiring a proprietary OS, and no solution whatsoever on free OSes...
This message is provided under the terms outlined at http://www.bero.org/terms.html
*sigh* Yet another reinforcement that "Linux" == "x86 only". PPC, Alpha, Sparc, and all the other platforms are really wasted efforts; you should just suck it up and buy crappy Intel hardware. [end sarcasm]
--
The Future: Some assembly required; batteries not included.
Your response is fair and pragmatic. But the original poster didn't bring up (and you don't address) the most disconcerting aspect of Real's recent business practice: their appropriation of personal information without individual permission.
Is Red Hat going to take steps to prevent this? How can we be assured that similar shenanigans won't occur in the future, assuming the product is going to remain closed-source?
I will be sorely disappointed in RH if these concerns simply go unanswered, and I certainly don't feel safe putting Real's binary on my system until the point has at least been addressed.
phil
BTW, I think it's great that Real is planning to put more effort behind Linux support. I'd love to see Apple step up with QuickTime support for Linux as well.
--
Dave Aiello
-- Dave Aiello
Using RealPlayer will only help their proprietary format get entrenched further. That means that we may have to live for a long time with their disregard for privacy and their haphazard clients. (I removed RealPlayer from my Linux machines a while ago.)
I think it would be better to look towards open alternatives and to contact web sites to use such alternatives. Streaming MP3 is a good choice for some applications. And there has been some work on other streaming media for Linux (e.g., here).
Furthermore, I think customers of RedHat should let them know that they prefer that RedHat support an open source streaming audio/media project, rather than bundling Real Networks software.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/00 0222/realnetwor_4.html
Because MS have just been tub-thumping about how Win2000 includes streaming servers built in with no further licenses. MS could make Linux a second-class web browsing platform if they could capture the streaming server market with a proprietary format for which no Linux player exists. This move is a step towards preventing that.
Hopefully RedHat will get the source code and ensure that the new RealPlayer is actually stable and useable under Linux.
This is exactly what we have been needing for Linux, a program that will collect our userinfo, and without our knowledge, send over the Internet.
No longer will people declare than Win98 is more user friendly. Linux users will be targeted by marketing analysts just as easy as Windows users.
Truly, this is a great day for all mankind!
-hemos.
I'm hemos., aka Jeff. Bates.. I help run this site, along with Rob. Malda.. I handle books, and generally posting storie
(I realize that the following sounds very opinionated. That's because it's an opinion. duh.)
Real's support for Linux products has always sucked. I remember reading a couple years ago about how Glaser originally liked to talk trash about Microsoft, but in the end Gates slapped him around a little and got him to work a little more 'in sync' with Microsoft. Afterwards M$ went ahead and bundled Windows Media Player with Windows. I would have thought at that point Real would start focusing more on it's non-Windows products.
When Realaudio first came out I thought it was just about the coolest thing in the world. Since then I've watched it become less and less relevant as other competition shows up. In the meantime I've just developed a distaste for Real's products, their annoying reminder messages, lack of regard for privacy, etc. Glaser just seems like an opportunist, and not a very good one at that. If there's one thing that impresses my about Real, it's that they're still around at all. I guess this has more to do with being the first to market than anything.
I think all this press release means is that Real found another free way to get their software distributed. I'll believe that they are truly making an effort to support their *nix users when I see it.
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