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Sigma Designs/XVid Update

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the twelve-step-program dept.

Reagen Ward and many other people have written in with updates to the Sigma Designs/XVid situation, reported a few days ago. Sigma has replied in email and a press release that they intend to make the source code available, however, they seem to be paying lip service at best to the terms of the GNU Public License. Grant Gross from Newsforge has been pursuing the story and in a story yesterday and another today lays out the current situation.

2 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. How is Sigma Designs the evil one in this story? by ergo98 · · Score: 1, Troll

    While it's reprehensible that a programmer there (at SD) apparently copy/pasted some GPL code in, Sigma made the codec a free product, and of course the existence of the Sigma codec in no way diminishes the availability or quality of the xvid codec (which, I admit, is the same redundant argument used to shoot down the bizarre logic of GPL crusaders when they admonish the BSD license). I just don't get how they're the evil villains in this case: All they're trying to do is proliferate the MPEG-4 standard.


    On a sidenote: Anyone have any experience with the XCard? I'm thinking of building my own media convergence device, and this will be central for DVD playback. Any opinions?

  2. BSD license by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Rather than the pretend to be free but really isn't GPL license, we should encourage companies to free source under the BSD license.