Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Real to Offer Open Source Windows Media for Linux

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the open-source-the-drm-too dept.

cpugeniusmv writes to tell us News.com is reporting that RealNetworks plans to release an open source method to allow Linux users to play Windows Media files. Currently Linux users are able to play the two main Windows Media formats (wmv and wma) but only if they install closed-source modules. The ability to launch this initiative comes from a recent licensing deal between RealNetworks and Microsoft and the antitrust settlement against Microsoft.

10 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Satan: by Winckle · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Brrr, it's getting chilly!"

  2. That's really... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    (buffering... buffering)... gr....(buffering...buffering)..eat new (buffering)s.

  3. Re:...err by WilliamSChips · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's open source. We'll just change what's inside the gifts from Greeks so it won't be dangerous.

    --
    Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
  4. Re:...err by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Funny
    It could be a trojan horse ...(in the Greeks bearing gifts sense...not script kiddie sense)
    Just a note, the original Trojan horse was a gift bearing Greeks, not the other way around :)
    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  5. Re:already there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    > and afaik, it can't handle wmv10 drm.

    That's a plus point.

  6. Re:already there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I believe it was something about the legality or something. Y'know, copying unlicensed DLLs to another operating system and running them there. It's about copyright law or something.

  7. Re:...err by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 5, Funny
    the original Trojan horse was a gift bearing Greeks, not the other way around :)

    It was Greeks bearing a gift bearing Greeks. And if a few of those Greeks was carring presents, say birthday presents to give to somebody after the battle or something, then it would be Greeks bearing a gift bearing Greeks bearing gifts.

    --
    Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
    You cannot wash away blood with blood
  8. Re:...err by Red+Flayer · · Score: 5, Funny
    It was Greeks bearing a gift bearing Greeks. And if a few of those Greeks was carring presents, say birthday presents to give to somebody after the battle or something, then it would be Greeks bearing a gift bearing Greeks bearing gifts.
    And if instead of a horse they had built large wooden bears, it would be Greeks gifting bears.

    Plus, with the proclivity of Greeks to be naked, you could end up with:
    Greeks gifting bears bearing Greeks being bare bearing gifts.

    My head hurts now. But "What if we build a large wooden badger..." will be stuck in my mind all day, at least that's a plus.
    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  9. Missing Features by yo_tuco · · Score: 3, Funny

    FTA

    "... Duchmann said in an interview here. However, the software [Linux version] won't support digital rights management available with Windows, he added."

    How come only the Windows version gets all the good features?

  10. Re:...err (going offtopic) by cp.tar · · Score: 2, Funny
    All you need to do, in that case, is write a C interpreter in assembler that can interpret enough of the C language to run the compiler interpretatively as it compiles the compiler. Then you know what the interpreted compiler is doing {because you wrote the interpreter code yourself} and that the compiler it's compiling really is clean {because you checked the compiler source}.

    I just imagined Nigel Hawthorne explaining this bit to me.

    --
    Ignore this signature. By order.