Part II: Corp. Desktop Linux - The Hard Truth

comforteagle writes "I've published Part II of W. McDonald Buck's essay on Linux TCO. In it he looks at the scenario of a company having already moved to Linux in the server room and also to open source software on Windows desktops, but "...now wants to know, how much extra can be saved by the final step of changing the operating system itself? And, what are the other costs, risks and benefits of doing that. To keep the scenario simple, we're assuming too that this will be done at a time when the desktop equipment is also being replaced. The news is good, but not as good as we like to believe." Part I was discussed previously on Slashdot."

Comments

Re:Honest question

[bersl2]

I know that #2 is certainly false. Freetype2 uses autohinting by default, which is not covered by the Apple(?) TrueType patent.

Re:Honest question

[msaavedra]

And please, no Stallmanesque rants about how intellectual property should be abolished.

Are you implying that Richard Stallman has said that intellectual property should be abolished? I doubt he would say that, considering that he doesn't even think "intellectual property" is a useful term, since copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, etc. are all separate concepts governed by separate laws and having varying effects on an individual's freedom.

Perhaps this is not what you meant, but I wouldn't be surprised. It seems that every day here on /. someone inaccurately attributes all sorts of loony beliefs to Stallman. Most of his opinions are fairly cogent and reasonable. Of course, he doesn't help himself, with his unorthodox appearance and behavior, lack of social skills, and pedantry regarding unimportant topics like the whole GNU/Linux thing. Still, unlike Joe Sixpack, I would think that the typical geek would be more tolerant of such things.

Anyway, to keep this post on topic:

1. MP3 is definitely patent-encumbered, and I believe AAC is as well. For this reason, Fedora and probably other distros do not include MP3 players/encoders. I don't know if using a free encoder in and of itself is breaking patent law, since the patent holders have not indicated any wish to forbid this (at least in Fraunhofer's case). After all, patent holders aren't required to charge you a licensing fee. Also, there is nothing specific about Linux that forbids using licensed apps; I believe there are some proprietary media apps for Linux that have purchased licenses for MP3.
2. There have been some issues with Freetype's bytecode interpreter in the past violating an Apple patent. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with kerning or not; I seem to remember it dealing with hinting. The last I heard, the Freetype developers had worked out some new ideas that don't violate the patent and gave better results anyway. On my Fedora desktop (and Fedora takes patents very seriously), the fonts look excellent, much better than on Windows. OS X may still have it beat, though.
3. I've heard nothing about patents on subpixel rendering one way or the other. I know that it works on my Fedora desktop, and I can't imagine they would enable it if it violated a patent, considering their stance on other patent-encumbered technology.