Real adds GPL to Helix Player, RedHat/Novell Join In

kforeman writes "Today, Linux desktop industry leaders, Red Hat and Novell announced with Real a deep product development and distribution agreement that will enhance the rapidly maturing Linux desktop experience. Specifically, Red Hat and Novell will standardize on the 100% open source Helix Player as the leading multimedia framework for their Linux desktops, and will help qualify and distribute the superset RealPlayer 10 with their upcoming Linux desktop offerings. As part of the announcement, within 30 days, Real will add the GPL as a licensing option the underlying Helix Player. For all of you free software developers who have been waiting for a true GPLed industry standard AV framework, we look forward to working with you."

Comments

This is using Helix as a framework, right?

[byolinux]

So, Helix can become the Media framework for the GNU system, like QuickTime is for Mac OS?

Re:This is using Helix as a framework, right?

[1010011010]

And I was thinking that GStreamer would end up being the "GNU System's Media Framework."

Shows what I know.

So?

[SpanishInquisition]

Does that mean that someone can make a Windows version without all the advertising crap that comes with the standard version?

Codecs GPL'd?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the beef with Helix was non-free codecs. Has Real changed this, or are RH/Novell just going to distribute the shell of media player?

Yay!

[PornMaster]

With it GPLed, we can get something to play RealMedia files on Windows that doesn't involve the neverending barrage of ads! I'm happy for you Linux desktop folks, but the implications for an alternate player for Windows is what does it for me. -PM

Real

[AliasTheRoot]

I've just switched my desktop OS from XP to Linux, when I was running XP I had no compunction to install Real as Media Player + assorted codecs played everything I wanted.

So am I correct in assuming Real realizes (*bum bum*) that they have lost the windows player war and are grasping at OSS to save them?

Re:Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, you are missing the point. Real is not putting their typical consumer "Real Player" on the desktop, they are integrating their Open-Source Helix platform int the base of the linux desktop. The difference is, Helix is going to be a rather nice framework for any and all media playback needs. As soon as Real GPL's it, it will be like opening up the source to windows for someone to improve upon it, or make it their own. (I know, bad analogy...but you get the point).

Allow access to subscription services?

[grahamm]

That is all well and good, but when are they going to allow non-windows Real Player 10 users to subscribe to services like (UK) Channel 4 broadband?

Re:Marketspeak

[hopethishelps]

We already have a GPL'd AV player: mplayer.

But do we really? The Debian folks have excluded key parts of mplayer from their distro (they include a crippled subset that is arguably useless) because of licensing concerns.

Now, this could just be a couple of people at the Debian project being anal-retentive; I don't pretend to fully understand the issues, and I don't know whether Debian's position makes sense or not. But at the least, there is some kind of question mark hanging over the mplayer copyrights and license.

Latest for Windows

[blackmonday]

The latest version of Real Player for Windows is actually pretty nice. I installed it the other day, and they've really made progress on the whole adware /hidden opt-in fiasco. The player defaulted to the minimum no frills compact mode, and I've found real video's video codec to be very competitive with quicktime. I'm the one who made the buffering joke, but Real has been trying to clean up their act lately (link to free player on main page), and I support them for that.

VLC

[Anonymous Coward]

VLC is already as polished and stable as they come, and it plays a heck of a lot more than Helix Player will ever play (at least in the near future). And it already works on almost every platform imaginable. And it's been open source from the very beginning.

That's great...

[Dolda2000]

...and all, more proprietary products being GPL'd and all. I love seeing that. - But - Just how is Helix actually better than MPlayer, Xine, gstreamer, etc.? I mean, MPlayer and Xine are probably the most mature stand-alone players there are right now, and gstreamer provides probably the best architecture I've seen, and it's also integrated throughout GNOME (and soon KDE as well, as I've heard). Just what advantages does Helix provide over these?

Re:what about mplayer and videolan

[AKAImBatman]

vlc is crash-prone -- at least on Windows.

Perhaps for you. I run VLC on Windows 2000 and it's far more stable than Windows Media Player. Not to mention that Windows Media Player is always choking on some file or another, while VLC plays them without complaint. Granted, VLC wouldn't be needed if the people doing the encodings knew how to NOT corrupt the file six ways to Sunday.

For example, I downloaded a little video called "TOS vs. TNG: The Final Battle". While it was a mildly amusing home-brew video, Windows Media Player choked about 80% through the file. If I fast forwarded past the point of the error, I'd get video but no sound. When I loaded it in VLC, it was able to play it through without error.

Codecs contain spyware

[Anonymous Coward]

i see everyone preaching "hurrah no spyware in the Linux player" and "if it has adware inside then just fork"

while the player might be open source/gpl its merely a simple GUI/shell for the codecs which are not being opened in any form whatsoever, codecs are what makes it work (hence real alternative can decode streams)
now if Real was smart they would put any tracking/privacy/evil code inside the pre-compiled binary codec, you can't easily check it (apart from disassembling to ASM in debugger which is probably DMCA infinging anyway)

so while you sit there at your Linux box saying "no adware in here" the reality is you have no idea whats contained in those files as the actual components that do the decoding of the streams is closed source and will likely never be open.

but iam sure every six months as usual a Real(TM) press release/slashdot story will popup and say but the player is open source
in a desperate bid to have their formats accepted by the OSS crowd/decision makers to lend an air of credibility to their companies dubious activities

A>S

I don't need a player, but an editor

[mm0mm]

I have absolutely no doubt that mplayer will remain in my system as a primary media player regardless of what helix will bring to the Linux desktop experience. And meantime, I am hoping to see NLE apps which offer features that are on par with Avid and FCP (mainactor is still low-key).

No one can foresee how successful Helix will become, but I couldn't stop wondering about the possibility of Helix-based NLE. I don't care for Real as far as media format/codecs are concerned. But if GPL'd Helix (with no real codecs) has something to offer, that should be multimedia solutions to Linux.

I may be too naive and optimistic to think about this, though.

Re:closed minds

[hkb]

Bridges take a lot longer to build or rebuild than they do to get torn down. It's not "closed mindedness", it's an issue of trust. Real hasn't quite earned it back, yet.

It's about acceptance

[radiophonic]

It's about acceptance, not about opening the source.

Real is a company who has continually annoyed many customers (and potential customers) with a barrage of misleading links, advertisements and spy ware in the past. Regardless of the fact that the Linux "version" of Real Player did not contain the junkware, the fact still remains: Real has bad karma and opening up the code will not make end users more reluctant to use the software.

Making the software GPL does not help you instantly erase your past and judging from most of the comments here, many are still quite cynical in regards to Real Networks.

Are you more willing to accept Real now because they've GPL'd some code?