AOL Open Sourcing Audio & Video Technology

daria24 writes "BetaNews says that AOL is open sourcing Winamp AVS and Milkdrop, two popular Winamp plug-ins, and its Ultravox streaming media platform (the successor to Shoutcast). 'Despite helping to launch the Mozilla Foundation and releasing the code to its AOL Server software, America Online has never been synonymous with open source. But a number of new initiatives could change AOL's proprietary image, as the company strives to reach a broader audience on the open Web.' The next-generation AIM release will also be an open platform, which AOL says 'could rival even Mozilla due to its scale and the massive AIM user base.'"

Comments

You BASTARDS!

[nagora]

What have you done with the real AOL?

TWW

Re:You BASTARDS!

[darkain]

AOL layed off most of the Nullsoft team, and the ones that didnt, quit. Why is AOL opening all of their software now? So they can get development for free. A few of the developers actually asked to open-source various of the Nullsoft products under the condition that they would continue to work on the projects out-of-pocket. So, is this a good thing, or a bad thing? I really cant say, because it does pain me to live in IRC with these guys for the past several years and to hear all about the internal workings of the company. As for the AOL side of things tho? I dont really know anything about them. I just feel for the guys that used to work for Nullsoft that no longer have their jobs with them.

Pixie-dust projects

[Scorillo47]

Yet another example of pixie-dust projects...

Re:Pixie-dust projects

[hey!]

quote the linked blog

Pixie-dust projects. Here I put big, commercial projects that were morphed in an open source variation, as in an attempt to sprinkle the open source pixie dust to help them to remain competitive. Examples: Netscape....

Not like anything could come of that kind of airy fairy pixie dust project, eh?

Taking this guy seriously, it's not hard to see that all of the classes of projects he describes do indeed exist. However, if you go the other way, from the important projects to the classifications, you see that none of them really fit any of his classifications.

Where would you put Apache HTTP server? Tomcat? Perl? Wine?

Or for that matter Linux. Sure, you can probably find some organizations that are supporting Linux so they can poke a competitor in the eye, but characterizing corporate support for Linux that way is simplistic.

Some organizations are simply scratching their itches, like that Nasa guy who wrote all those ethernet drivers.

Others just need Linux to exist to make their business viable. I think Red Hat doesn't really set itself up to compete with Microsoft, which is the classic land-war-in-Asia mistake. They'd be foolish to aim to "spoil things" for Microsoft; that's just a possible side effect. It's more like they're trying to create a business model that allows them to make money around Microsoft.

Another reason I see for supporting Linux that doesn't fit into this scheme is strategy. Microsoft is not an important competitor to IBM in any sphere, now that OS/2 is a dead business. Big Blue needs Linux to make sure it stays that way. Without Linux, IBM would have to compete with Microsoft in its business areas but allow Microsoft control over the underlying technology. You could say that is "disruptive", except that is more aimed at maintaining the status quo from IBM's perspective.

Huh?

[TheSpoom]

Wait, does this mean that we're supposed to... like... AOL?

But... it just feels wrong somehow... :^(

Re:Huh?

[doombob]

Yeah, that's ok... it's just their customers we're not supposed to like.

Re:Huh?

[Queer Boy]

Just so you young whippersnappers remember, AOL was the reason there's a consumer internet AT ALL! The existence of AOL and its massive userbase was the impetus for improving the usability of things like WWW, Usenet and e-mail.

Did you think you could always point and click your way across the internet?

Props to them

[m50d]

Anyone know how portable the code is? Any chance we could see milkdrop for xmms (yes I know there are clones around, none of them are as good as the original).

Re:Props to them

[m50d]

It's been around for a while, so it's probably not depending on new directx, so even if it is directx perhaps it could be compiled against winelib? I'm more concerned about the code assuming everything is windows (\ for directory separator, etc)

Does it really matter?

[Elecore]

'The next-generation AIM release will also be an open platform, which AOL says 'could rival even Mozilla due to its scale and the massive AIM user base.' It could rival in pure numbers, but I'd bet that MOST AOL users don't really understand or care what open source is. Most people who do stay clear of AOL to begin with.

Re:Does it really matter?

[Synbiosis]

"It could rival in pure numbers, but I'd bet that MOST AOL users don't really understand or care what open source is. Most people who do stay clear of AOL to begin with."

AIM has an obscenely diverse user base. It's available on all platforms, and virtually everyone (except for Jabber guys who refuse to friend anyone not on Jabber) uses it.

Granted, there will be some people who don't care about open source, but there's definitely quite a few people who would be willing to switch to something less RAM hungry and ad-free for their IMing needs.

As for currently existing open source projects, there's Gaim & Miranda. Gaim is deent, but it's a ram hog and uses GTK, which is the bane of anyone running 1024x768 or less. Miranda IM is the exact opposite, but it's missing key features like *working file transfers*.

Re:Does it really matter?

[dcclark]

Not to mention that the "open platform" actually consists of letting some outside developers license certain aspects of AIM and its protocols. In particular, there will be some sort of plug-in architecture -- so no chance of getting better access to the protocols for 3rd party use. They aren't actually doing much "opening up," so much as making more business opportunities for themselves.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

AOL does contribute to open source software

[fitsy]

AOL does contribute to useful open source software. AOL developers contribute to SQLite and have helped produce numerous useful additions to SQLite.

Quote: The primary purpose for version 3.2.0 is to add support for ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN. The new ADD COLUMN capability is made possible by AOL developers supporting and embracing great open-source software. Thanks, AOL!

Finally...

[PenguinBoyDave]

I can rush out now and subscribe to AOL. I was just waiting for them to support open source. I'll be the first guy in my lug to have an AOL address. I rock.

Ah AOL...

[DrXym]

AOL is run by a bunch of geniuses. I've never seen a company that can invest millions in technologies such as browsers, music & video players, only to shitcan their (superior) solutions in favour of (inferior) ones developed by their main competitors.

I just look at WinAmp and shake my head. There's a programme that could have been iTMS before such a thing even existed. It could still be iTMS rival now, two years too late. And the integrated NSV means it could deliver TV and VOD too with a little work. So why the hell isn't it?

Because AOL is run by a bunch of geniuses.

Milkdrop?

[coyotecult]

Oh my god, I LOVED that. It was approximately my favoritest audio visualization ever.

Reasons Why Milkdrop Kicks Ass:

• Milkdrop is the reason I've never needed to take any hallucinogenic drugs.
• Milkdrop's my daddy.
• Milkdrop also fathered my superhuman genius baby.
• Milkdrop isn't God like Dan Bukvitch, but is probably pretty high up there. Like the Holy Ghost or Jesus or something.
• Milkdrop is that irresistable creature with an insatiable love for the dead.
• If Milkdrop conferenced the Middle East, peace would be achieved.
• Milkdrop is actually a gift from a mind-sucking alien race intent on sucking the awe right out of our skulls.
• Few people know this, but Milkdrop is actually nature's suction cup. Watch this. See? It sticks

It's time to learn how to port that sucker to the *Nixes (Linux, BSD, OS X)! I haven't been in Windows enough to enjoy it for a very long time.

recompilation/proting of Winamp code

[bogaboga]

My wish is for an experienced hacker to port Winamp to Linux the moment the code is open sourced. Will this happen? I do not see any Linux native application that can stand in place of Winamp.

I know we have the likes of AmaroK, XMMS...but none of these does any video!

Open source abandonware?

[Animats]

This sounds more like open sourcing of abandonware at its end of life. After all, that's what they did with Netscape.

Does this mean Freeamp can start using its own name again? AOL made them change their name to Zinf or something like that, and they were never heard from again. Especially since one of those directory spammers took over their "freeamp" domains, and AOL did nothing about that.

if AOL really wants to live, they need to head ...

[WindBourne]

to OSS. But even more than offering OSS, they would be wise to do a Linux connection, even possibly a Linux disc. One idea would be to work with major distros geared towards the desktop such as Novell, Mandrake, and Linspire.

hi i am aol

[demon411]

aol head: "hey i don't think spamming people aol cds is working anymore what can we do?"

"let's buy netscape"

AOL buys them and now AOL has a deal with Microsoft for using IE.

later ...

aol head: "hmm that didn't work what should we do now?"

"umm. how about buy winamp for 100 million dollars"

Justin Frankel (winamp creator) resigns

5 years later ...

aol head: "we are still broke, whatever happened to that winamp stuff we bought?"

"um we are working on some cool plugins! hey maybe we could make it open source! i hear mozilla is doing well and they are open source"

aol head: "good idea, we can make aim open source too"

Other AOL Open Source

[Skynet]

AOL also open sourced the modified version of Midori/Mobile Linux it used on the Gateway appliance.

Hence, http://opensource.aol.com

Xbox Media Center

[EvilMonkeySlayer]

The milkdrop source was added to the XBMC cvs a couple of weeks ago.

It looks purty.

See Here.

Re:Leaks from other topics?

[SirTalon42]

This happened a week or so ago with a massive amount of posts, then slashdot required ACs and low karma users to put in an authentication code for every post and they stopped for a while, I don't know if the authentication codes are still required or not (never had to use them), but I just started seeing them around yesterday again.

It already is

[Mitchell Mebane]

"It's great to hear Milkdrop is finally being open-sourced, let's hope projectM can work better as a result."

It already is. From the projectM home page:

5/6/05 - projectM 0.97 Released!

Nullsoft released the Milkdrop source code so I have fixed the behavior of waveforms 2, 3, & 5, zoom, and custom shapes (tex_ang and tex_zoom). I also added the Darken, Brighten, and Solarize filters. Things look much better with these added features. We also have some stability patches for xmms-projectM in this release courtesy of Richard McKnight.

So this is just the beginning. Now that the Milkdrop source is out, expect good things. This is just a quick release to show how much progess we've made in just a few days with the source. Expect more.

Player Souce/API?

[Doc Ruby]

I wish they'd open the source to the base WinAmp5 player, at least Read-Only. I've been trying for months to figure out the API for a few essential functions to make an interactive playlist plugin that replaces, or at least can be used instead of, the default playlist GUI. Wasabi was a project forked off WinAmp3 that released its source years ago, but that's a dead end (no codebase shared with WinAmp5).

If you've got insights, how would you implement my playlist, which lets you click Artist - Title - Album "columns" in the display of song rows, sorting the clicked column, and restyling (eg. italicizing, bolding, underlining) the font of all text only in that column? It has to 1> get the click, 2> know which row was clicked, 3> get the data from that row, 4> resort the rows in the display, 5> restyle some of the text in each row. If I can't get the coordinates of the click, I can just rotate the sort column after each click. And if I can't restyle some of the row text, I can insert "***" characters or something. And if I can't make a plugin override the default playlist (make it appear instead), I suppose I can make it a MediaLibrary plugin or something. And for real wizardry, I'd like the plugin to use WinAmp's builting HTTP client to periodically retrieve and install plugin updates from my Internet server.

I don't need the algorithms to do those things, I need the API hooks to call the rest of WinAmp to do its part. I want to call them, but I also want to trace them for debugging, as the datapath "submerges" into the main app. If AOL won't open the source to WinAmp5 entirely, maybe some Slashdotter already knows how to do it "anyway".