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VLC 1.1 Forced To Drop Shoutcast Due To AOL Anti-OSS Provision

Posted by Soulskill on from the more-shouting-imminent dept.

The folks over at VideoLAN are in the process of releasing version 1.1.0 of VLC, and one of the major changes is the removal of SHOUTcast, a media-streaming module from AOL-owned Nullsoft. "During the last year, the VLC developers have received several injunctions by e-mail from employees at AOL, asking us to either comply to a license not compatible with free software or remove the SHOUTcast capability in VLC." Within the license is a clause prohibiting the distribution of SHOUTcast with any product whose own license requires that it be "disclosed or distributed in source code form," "licensed for the purpose of making derivative works," or "redistributable at no charge." The license would also force VideoLAN to bundle Nullsoft adware with VLC. Update: 06/22 00:52 GMT by H : The 1.1 release is ready from their site; you can also read up on the release information.

6 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. Not the first and not the last by jlechem · · Score: 4, Insightful

    to say fuck you AOL. Seriously quit being a dick.

    --
    Hold up, wait a minute, let me put some pimpin in it
    1. Re:Not the first and not the last by nametaken · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's way too late for AOL. They could hand out free puppy dogs and ice cream for the next year and nobody would ever love them again.

      All 3 remaining shareholders need to get someone to fire everyone in the top 30% of pay recipients there, break the company into smaller ones with independent leadership and f'ing BURY they name AOL forever. RIP.

  2. AO-who? by AdmiralXyz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You'd think those guys would seize any opportunity to stay relevant. It's one thing to shoot yourself in the foot, another to do it when you're inches from death.

    --
    Dislike the Electoral College? Lobby your state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
  3. Sayonara SHOUTcast! by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Insightful

    AOL wants to flex what little muscle it has left and try to have an impact on something? KMA AOL, VLC is going to cast your SHOUTcast aside. No one will miss it, and more importantly, no one will miss AOL when it fades off into the sunset.

  4. Magnusson-Moss by wiredlogic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Reverse engineering and design for interoperability is legal in the US. Unless there is an active patent or AOL's code is incorporated into VLC they don't have a leg to stand on and are just engaging in bully tactics. Considering that this is AOL I'm not surprised that they're likely to shift to the SCO business model and squeeze all they can from the fumes of their diminished empire.

    --
    I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
  5. Re:Wait... by localman57 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because that would be wrong. Open source software needs to set an example by respecting the licenses under which code is provided. Otherwise, we have no moral authority to go after companies that violate the GPL and demand that they post their code. DVD decoding is a bit different story, because of the fuzzyness of various laws that protect content, and your ability to use it in ways to make it compatible with your system.