Real Announce Helix Grant Program, Player

Rob Lanphier writes "RealNetworks made two announcements at LinuxWorld this week: we will be giving out up to $75,000 by the end of the year for development of open source projects based on the Helix multimedia platform. Also, we just formally launched the Helix Player project, which is a project to build a GTK+ based user interface for Linux, Solaris, and other UNIXy operating systems. Press releases for the grant program here and player project here"

Comments

Translation

[The Bungi]

"Please help us make our propietary piece of crap spyware nagware platform more popular. Thanks!"

But anyway, better read all this carefully.

Re:Translation

[joaorf]

Or you can translate: "Take our fine code and use it to make your own software better".
That is possible, just like other projects are using Mozilla code.

could be cool

[didjit]

sounds like this could be a good thing. the older versions of real player for linux worked with moderate success. but they were shoved far out of reach on the real site like that guy in office space who likes his stapler so much. the versions weren't quite current and the players were sub-standard compared to the windows version. it'd be nice if they released a decent media player for linux and even better if it were open sourced.

It's still a good thing

[mao che minh]

While the Helix media player is merely the player minus codecs, and the server is only an encoder that also lacks the codecs, it is still a step in the right direction.

When open source meets traditional business the results aren't always what the GNU and FSF might get excited about, but an honest effort is better then nothing.

Just imagine if someone like Adobe showed this much community support with open source.

Re:It's still a good thing

[AKAImBatman]

While the Helix media player is merely the player minus codecs, and the server is only an encoder that also lacks the codecs, it is still a step in the right direction.

I have a hard time swallowing this argument. There is absolutely *nothing* difficult about making a GUI or a bit of network code. Which of course begs the question, WTF are they doing? I suppose they may be developing a cross platform API for high speed video rendering, but again, that's not that huge of a project (most, if not all Multimedia OSes have special video extentions, including Linux). Codecs are where the real code/technology is. And that happens to be exactly what's missing.

I can get you an old Chevette without an engine, suspension or wheels for cheap. Want to buy it?

Re:It's still a good thing

[GigsVT]

No, it's not a good thing, and you are completely wrong about Adobe.

Adobe has supported open source more than most people know (or care to believe).

I don't particularly like Adobe either, but as a company, they aren't half bad. They have released the postscript and PDF specs, in full, for free, and the license allows anyone to write an implementation of them, without royalty or encumberment.

This has been an incredible boon for open source and Free Software. If you think printing in Linux sucks now, just imagine how bad it would have been had Adobe been dicks about PS and PDF standards. Adobe is way ahead of the game...

They realized they can make more money by getting a fully open standard adopted, rather than trying to force a closed standard down everyone's throats, and face competing standards that do basically the same time.

We would be downloading 3rd party open source postscript and PDF interperters from overseas to avoid patents, like we have to do now with mplayer codecs.

What Real is doing is a sham. They don't give a fuck about Free Software, this is just their way of trying to get in on that "Linux thing" without actually giving a little.

I know that Elcomsoft ordeal has left a bad taste in people's mouths, but we can't forget that Adobe isn't an unconditional enemy, they have been a strong ally in the past, and hopefully they saw the error in their ways regarding the DMCA.

Re:It's still a good thing

[benwaggoner]

Nothing difficult about making a good GUI? I give you exhibit A: MPlayer. Dozens of different UIs available, all terrible.

Nothing difficult about network code for streaming media? Huh? You've got to deal with client/server communication over a lossy connection using UDP, doing retransmission of packets, buffering, doing scalable switching between streams. Doing this well is at least of the same order of difficulty as a good codec.

Re:It's still a good thing

[Lord_Dweomer]

The other good business practice of Adobe that I'd like to point out is this:

Photoshop has to be THE most pirated piece of software on the internet. Does Adobe know this? Yes. Do they do much? No. Why? Because they realize that they are getting everybody hooked on it. And when these people go to their job, and need to use graphics software, what are they gonna say to the person who buys it? "Get me Adobe Photoshop." I mean, aside from freelancers, corporations are the only ones willing to pony up the 600 bucks or whatever it runs these days. And you know what? Last I checked, Adobe wasn't doing half bad financially. The RIAA and other companies could learn something from them.

Re:first proprietary player for linux

[AKAImBatman]

Now only if apple would follow suite, we wouldnt have to rely on cross over plugins to play these formats.

Ummm... hello? There are NO CODECS included with Helix. It supposed to be some "open platform" for media.

Translation: a way to drum up "good feelings" about RealPlayer by giving away a worthless shell that you have to sign an NDA to get.

Primary Source vs. Impartial Submission

[panaceaa]

Should Slashdot editors post an article by someone who works for RealNetworks? He only gave links to sites run by Real. Shouldn't it at least contain a few links from actual news sources like C-Net, who might put things in a less partial perspective?

One could argue that it's better to get an article straight from the source, then read the comments for impartial opinion and review. However, I disagree. Slashdot should be a collection of articles that the community found interesting and submitted on their own. It shouldn't become a press release distribution ground for promoting corporate agendas to Linux geeks.

An open letter

[digitaltraveller]

Dear Real Networks,
Please go away and rethink your business model and come back when you are ready to release something of value.
If you wish to win the hearts and minds of open source developers you need to do more than your current offer which smacks of "Here is 75K, code & licenses of questionable value, please go do our coding for us".
Instead you might want to check out a _profitable_ business model like that used by TrollTech, SleepyCat Software, ZeroC and others. The scheme is this: Release your codecs as a GPL library that allows open source (GPL) code to link against it. Proprietary software is required to purchase a seperate license to use the library. Sell a high quality proprietary multimedia production app that uses these codecs.
Remember, business is about taking measured risks, and it's time for Real "realize" this.
Otherwise Real risks fading into obscurity. The sentiment here [in my office] is that this has already happened. The time for bold action has arrived.

A simple, decent player for *nix platforms...

[GrimReality]

Introduction

The current situation is that one has to use RealOne player to play RealMedia files. One has to register the player before you can play a file, but the player will simply go around in loops asking you to register, no matter how many times you do it. Even when it does start to play it crashes and leaks --for it has become a kitchen-sink(TM) application.

Of course, there are stuff like Xine and MPlayer, but their legal status is dubious and since being done the sneaky way is not working at the best.

If RealMedia is reluctant to come out with a simpley player for playing RealMedia audio and video files ONLY (i.e. no 'jukebox' or ripping or audio-cd making and other junk), let others write them by making the codecs freely distributable (for playing back ONLY) and making the interface documentation freely available.

Helix: Episode IV: A New Hope

This Helix thing seems to be more than just the audio-video stuff, and seems to encompass a broader take on mult-media on the Internet.

Does this bring up a hope that such simple players (non-sneaky) could be a reality in the near future?

GrimReality
2003-08-07 02:51:07 UTC (2003-08-06 22:51:07 EDT)

Re:$75K?

[adug]

What are you talking about, $75k buys 7 programmers in India for a year.

don't know where to begin...

[Kunta Kinte]

The Helix program is nothing but a set of "standardized" shells. The media player is simply the player sans any codecs and the server is simply and encoder/server again sans the codecs.

The codec is only a piece of the picture. The container format is very important, and usually what people standardize on. Helix is giving us that and more.

The project was not, I suspect, suppose to be an 'end-user' type project. Note that they did not release any binaries. Helix is a platform.

Helix provides a uniform, client, server, and encoder source base. All open source. All we need to do now is build binaries around that. Industry will much easier pick up a product built on Real's helix, than something managements never heard of.

I'd wager that the legality of MPlayer and xine is questionable. From the dll's they import to the codecs they emulate. Real is giving us something that they own for sure.