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Turbolinux Licenses Windows Media 9

Posted by timothy on from the that's-a-first dept.

spike-288 writes "According a press release, Turbolinux is the first major Linux distributor to license and ship a media player capable of streaming Windows Media audio and video. The new product, "Turbolinux 10 F..." is based on Turbolinux 10 Desktop but will also include licensed versions of Macromedia Flash, legal commercial DVD playback (via Cyberlink's PowerDVD player), RealPlayer 8, commercial Kanji fonts and iPod support via gtkpod (including enhanced functionality)." Update: 04/28 02:33 GMT by T : Prostoalex adds "The Windows Media codecs for Linux will be available for download for $64, the complete TurboLinux OS will cost $150 in Japan and the United States."

2 of 549 comments (clear)

  1. Getting rid of DRM? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Will it strip out DRM so we can listen to our own music on our own machines without hassle?

  2. Re:This isn't actually a bad thing... by pla · · Score: 5, Interesting

    thanks to Linux's memory protection and I/O abstraction, nothing affects system reliability unless it goes through the kernel ... a few proprietary apps shouldn't break the increased reliability that the free software process brings to the rest of your system. Or what evidence can you provide against my assertion?

    No, no, you have a fair point that I hadn't considered. I agree with you completely - No kernel mods, this should at worst crash the player in question, not the whole system.

    I do, though, have to wonder if (at least) WMP9 support requires a (binary-only, of course) kernel module to enforce its DRM... If so, my earlier comment on stability would still apply. If not, will this allow playback of protected content, or have they glossed over that small omission from full compatibility?