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Ogle Does CSS and DVD Menus
javilon noted that a new DVD Player for Linux has appeared, and this one supports CSS and is the first player to implement menus. It's called
Ogle and is developed by a few students at Chalmers University of Technology ins Sweden. It's really exciting to see several different groups independently and together developing players. The only question is when will the MPAA give up?
At Chalmers we also have a rather nice lawyer, who actually defends Chalmers (and I want to be defended, it's "my" computer system the MPAA will be after). He also enjoys going to court, if we just get him on the right side. :-)
The thing is that this player has been developed in Sweden. Sweden currently does not have software patents, or any equivalence to the DMCA, and the chance of making this development look like a criminal offence is very very small. Even for the MPAA.
We also have something to use to bend Chalmers back the right way if they seem to mushy against the MPAA - PR. Chalmers gets lots and lots of good PR from this player, and that is an argument that the leadership here can certainly accept.
It's really exciting to see several different groups independently and together developing players.
Exciting? I've got a wheel for you to re-invent if you find that sort of thing exciting. I don't know about you, but I'd rather see ONE quality Linux DVD player than five unfinished ones, each in a different stage of brokenness.
Mod me down, they're your points...
If MPAA ever "gives up" on keeping the lid on DVDs, it will be because they're abandoning DVD altogether. And it might make sense for them to do that pretty soon. If you have bought a lot of your favorite movies on DVD, then it's time for them to introduce a new format so they can sell them to you again.
So when MPAA gives up, be afraid, because it means they're getting ready to ream you.
---
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
And the MPAA thinks there is no reason for hacking CSS. Go fig.
I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
FINALLY! A DVD player that supports Cascading Style Sheets!
Whoohoo!
What? Oh..ok. I see. OK.
Nevermind.
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To: Slashdot Readership Re: Use of the SMOG trademark
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We do not object to use of the slang term "smog" to describe unsolicited commercial air particles, although we do object to the use of our product image in association with that term. Also, if the term is to be used, it should be in all lowercase letters to distinguish it from our trademark SMOG, which should be used with all uppercase letters.
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[
In short, this looks like it will be really neat but it is definately not ready for widespread use yet.
Here's my DeCSS mirror, where's yours?
It's not nice to tease people.
Here's my DeCSS mirror, where's yours?
"Does a DVD player for Linux have to be a subversive mission against the MPAA?"
Yep! It sure does.
Hold on a second here, I'm not actually being facetious. Consider this:
There are no licensed DVD players for any linux (not to mention all the Unices, OS/2, etc. etc.) In fact, no Linux (etc.) developers have licences to produce one, as far as we know. Thus, ANY DVD PLAYER DEVELOPMENT on Linux is a de facto 'line in the sand' against the MPAA. There's no way for it not to be.
And for that matter, that's the way it should be. As long as the MPAA thinks they can make people pay for the rights to develop software, we should agressively ignore their decrees and do everything in our power to defeat them.
Remember: They are selling you the right to develop your own software. That's simply unconscionable.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
What can the MPAA say about Chalmers? I know the University is not directly involved, but they are students there.
It should be the message, not the messenger that should be looked at.
Fight Spammers!
You might not have a choice. I went to rent a videotape last night. The major chain had moved all the video tape into 1/4 of the floor space with just the edges of the boxes showing. They also bunched them all together. They were no longer seperated by classics, comedy, drama, action, family, etc.. Anybody else notice this trend? However the few DVD's they did have filled up 3/4 of the floor space. Several shelves were filled with the same title showing the full front of the box 1 deep on the shelf. This is a bold move to herd people to the DVD's and away from the videotapes. The change happened over the last 2 weeks. The title I went to rent was out. They had reduced inventory to one copy. It is not on DVD. I do not wish to watch DVD's on my computer monitor. I refuse to buy a DVD player until either DVD's are released region free, or all-region players are legally on sale here. I can change the region on my computer DVD drive, but it is not part of my living room home entertainment system. My entire DVD library now consists of one computer program on DVD ROM (phone book) and one movie I bought in a second hand store.
The truth shall set you free!
Ig uesst heyw illg iveu pw hent heyr ealizet hatt heirs ituationi sf utile.
Dude! The LiViD link links to the wrong place! You should check your linksto make sure they go to the right place.
Perhaps someonecould write an open source Perl script that checks links and put it in Slashcode so that CmdrTaco never links to the wrong place again.
Or perhaps Microsoft just put some smart tag code in Slash.
Yes I know is is somewhat offtopic, but CmdrTaco did link to the wrong place with the LiViD link. www.livid.org goes to someguy's homepage while www.linuxvideo.orrg goes to LiViD. So this is ontopic. And it makes fun of Smart Tags.
--Volrath50
"Does anyone know if the MPAA has the same legal power over people using the CSS code in countries other than the United States?"
Theoretically, NONE. However, this did not stop them from having the author of DeCSS arrested and his PC confiscated.
This is another case that would make them look horrible, if they go after authors CLEARLY just trying to make a player. Such a shot to one foot, along with the other shot the RIAA administered by threatening Felten, COULD finally destroy the DMCA.
=== The price of freedom is eternal vigilance
It's really exciting to see several different groups independantly and together...
See, SmartTags(tm) aren't so bad after all.
It's GPLed! Cancer! Infection! Death and destruction! Killer rabbits! SMOG!