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"Open Source" Apple says "No" to Xanim
Frostking writes "According to the homepage of the Xanim author,
Apple has prohibited Sorenson, the makers of the codec
used in the Starwars clips among other things, to license
the codec to anybody else, including Mark Podlipec the
Xanim author. "
you people are absolutely ridiculous.
Frankly, I have been willing to cut ESR a lot of slack with this open source thing- I agree that getting business to use Open Source is a good thing. But Steve Jobs just used and abused him yesterday. Opening up a small and insignificant fraction of OS X should have been a slap in the face to all of us- it was a blatant ploy to get some good publicity without actually doing anything of substance. And ESR not only bought it hook line and sinker, but helped promote the scam. That's sad. Maybe one day ESR will learn to read the individuals who are using him as well as he reads the movement, but until then...
apple sucks. they are supporting open source as long as they can make any money of it. as soon as apple gets stronger (it probably will) it will cut off all of their open source projects.
apple is no better than microsoft. (btw mac0s is only os out there that is even worse than windows).
and this macosX is faster than linux is probably
just some lame apple advertising trick,like that imac crap
ppl need to get clue and realise this.
/ scud
If this is true, it's just one more way in
which Apple has ensured they won't get my business.
Maybe once they become aware of the situation they'll correct it.. it wouldn't suprise me if
this is something left over from their "pre-open"
days. One can only hope.
Somehow though, I fear Apple isn't sincere about being and Open Source player...
does anybody have the sorenson or apple contact information, so that i can bitch? =]
Yeah that's right.
If you can't come up with a good idea on your own steal someone elses.
I did this from home, and the message I got back leads me to believe that Apple will be releasing QT3 for Linux ... NO they didn't say it outright, but their choice of words in replying to me, leads me to this conclusion.
--
KnightFire
Yeah the lack of the floppy has really KILLED iMac sales. Apple must be kicking themselves.
QT3.0 is cross-platform, just because it doesn't run on your niche OS doesn't mean shit. Stop whining.
Then protest.
Don't buy Apple Hardware or Software. Don't download QT3.0 for Windows (you know the thing on that partition of your HD that you do all your real work on).
You'll be missed.
NOT.
Or at least that's what you'd think by listening to all the ranters and ravers on /.
Jeez.
Live and let live people.
"they are supporting open source as long as they can make any money"
And?
Your point is what exactly?
They're a frigging corporation with stock holders to shut up. They have to make money.
If supporting open source will help they'll do it. If screwing you open source hippies will work they'll do that instead.
Duh.
It would appear that the Apple feedback should go to http://www.apple.com/hotnews/feedback.ht ml
I'm guessing that the category should be Management Comments.
Average time it takes an OpenSource crusader to get 'inflamed': 15msecs...
"Probably should also send email to web sites that use sorenson so they know it has a limited audience"
ROFLMAO!!!
Limited?
I guess 3.5 million downloads of the Star Wars trailer prove that it was so limited. I bet 99% of all linux junkies just rebooted into Windooze and downloaded the trailer from there.
Get a life.
Er, jackass, more systems are running Linux worldwide than are running MacOS X at this point, and quite possibly more than any version of MacOS.
Niche OS? Perhaps. But it's a larger (and growing more so) niche than MacOS...
From the link you thoughtfully supplied:
"...now Apache is a core component of Mac OS X Server."
" Certified implementation of Apache 1.3.4 Brings the world's most popular web server to the Macintosh platform."
Yeah, that really sounds like they're trying to claim credit for the development of Apache.
-David (in a bad mood today, please pardon my gushing mac advocacy)
judging from the posts here, /. readers seem to hate apple enough they boycott it no matter what.
At least with microsoft, people here seem willing to admit when and if MS or their software has good points. Apple they flame no matter what. So a boycott would be pretty silly, seeing as the people participating in it would be the ones who hate apple so vehemently they'd never go near one of their boxes anyway.
i couldnt agree more with you :)
apple is nothing but failed m$ clone... or is m$ is succesful apple clone....
Wow! Really?! I can't wait!
Hey I think they just want to prevent Microsoft (Who is always hitting on quicktime these days) to get their hands on a good codec... (cause In Fact Sorenson IS BETTER than the others... proof is easy to make!)but I think we could get a special arrangement for Xanim... unless they are Really on their way to make Quicktime for Linux...
Anyway... maybe we should look into a way to be able to use Win32 binairies codecs in Xanim...
Chill guys... it is not because they are trying to be open source but they aren't sure about how to do it that they do everything wrong...
They have a right to be paranoid... After the Mac clone companies almost got them to die...
Let them breathe... they just got out of it!
The promised an OS/2 version of QuickTime for at least two years, and never delivered. Never trust
Apple.
>You want a free codec as good as sorenson? Go write one.
I posed a similar challenge here last week after they were all bitching about the Phantom Menace QuickTime preview not being in MPEG. They came out of the woodwork, knives drawn. Clever headers like "You're a moron", and so forth. Expect similar treatment from the Linux Cultural Revolutionaries for your transgression.
No such luck. They're not reimplementing QuickTime in Java, they're just writing a Java interface to the QuickTime libraries. So it only works if you already have QuickTime 3 installed on your machine. In other words, if you're using Mac OS or Windows.
Of course, trying to implement QuickTime in Java would have probably been a mistake itself.
QuickTIme is not Cross Platform (Runs on MacOS and windoze).
If you want to see a real crossplatform product take a look at netscape communicator. It runs on well over a dozen of platforms.. Windows, (3.1 to NT), MacOS, and all Unices (Solaris, Linux i386/ppc/sparc, Irix, FreeBSD, AIX, HPUX, Digital Unix, etc)
SlashDot readers suffer from selective reading habits. I am starting to believe that most advocates of Open Source and/or GNU are more religious than most people in a church.
Nobody expects the GNU Inquisition!!!
Sean "Irish" Farley
I then saw the same trailer on a P166/Win95 box... skipped and lagged like a mutha.
The .mpg floating around displayed well on both boxes, though the resolution wasn't as good. That's a small price to pay for no skips!
Sorensen is only kewl if your processor has a bunch of extra cycles to devote to real-time decompression. If you're a year and a half behind on the processor market, well, Sorensen isn't gonna do you any good.
(Well, okay. A sore2mpeg utility might be nice. But, still.)
I get it.
/. effect.
They didn't put a floppy on the iMac, and now in retaliation, people are buying it in droves.
They closed the clone business, and things got worse for their business; now, instead of losing money, they've got a profit!
They can't work with others, so they end up in the penalty box along with Microsoft, Adobe, Apache, and Open Source Initiative.
They decided not to warm up to Linux by supporting LinuxPPC / MkLinux. Instead, they had the gall to go even more proprietary by releasing their code as open source.
Unbelievable, this company called Apple. I give them 15 days before they go out of business from the
Actually there were QuickTime players available
from IBM on the DevCon CD's. But IBM started
deemphasizing OS/2 and Apple was in financial trouble
at that point so why bother with the work. IBM
was no longer targeting the customers to whom
QuickTime would be useful.
Apple are happy to open up the stuff they have that's no use. A bunch of badly written drivers, some mucked about BSD code.
I wouldn't say it's of no use - after all they are basing their OS on it. Since it's open anyway, if they're using over Linux/*BSD, there must be _some_ reason, right? Wait til someone actually looks at the source.
When it comes to giving back to the community
by opening up the stuff they've done properly - quicktime, the GUI, etc. - oh, suddenly they aren't so keen.
Of course, you could ignore the fact that they worked on Apache for a year. QT and the GUI is their baby - you might as well ask them to go out of business. Besides - you want it so badly? Write the codec - if it's better people will use it. Join GNUStep - and if it's better people will use it.
OS X isn't even BSD with a nice GUI
Nope. OS X (Server) is BSD with an unbelieveably good GUI.
Well, at least that's what you thought. But, then, you weren't reading carefully.
Here's a better summary: If you're pretending to be "OpenSource" in a callous marketing ploy, while in almost every other respect you're still acting like Microsoft's little brother, well, you're scum.
xanim's support for mpeg is also horribly slow. The only thing I've found that does a good job with it is mtv, which is shareware (though the mtvp command-line player is free for non-commercial use IIRC) and (IIRC) closed source.
I'm not really AC, I just CBA to log in.
Aren't you the genius, you managed to figure out all by yourself that a OS that has been out since '91 has a larger install base than one released yesterday that you probably can't even buy yet! Come back when you find the other half of your brain.
> Just don't make Marc Podlipec really mad, or he might reverse engineer the sucker. He's done it before. What say, Marc?
He doesn't reverse-engineer, he duplicates through analysis.
It doesn't matter though - whether you arrived at a decoder through your own efforts or via disassembly or elicitly-gleaned source, it doesn't mean you can legally use the end result. Mark replicated early Cinepak and Indeo himself with a clean-room decoder, but he still had to withdraw the source.
-- a. t. f.
Hell, why not brute-force 3-DES while you're at it? The code for that can be written in a 4-line .sig
axolotl
Funny how I just downloaded the source then. OK, the codec modules aren't open but that's not the author's fault.
OK, it may not be Free in the FSF sense, but that's not the same thing at all.
axolotl
...and they did :(
What? WHAT? Somebody on Slashdot complaining that we haven't flamed Microsoft ENOUGH?
WTF?
...MPEG.
"I'll wait for Star Wars on videotape as long as it isn't Apple Quicktime for VHS."
Well, guess what! Chances are that Star Wars will be "written" to video media using technologies similar to those used in Apple Quicktime, and it would be made for VHS too.
I believe film trailers are for movie rooms. When viewing is extended to home video and computers (Linux, Windows, Macs, and the likes), I just consider myself priviledged. Now, I believe your machine can boot into another OS to view the Star Wars trailer. Please, lower your pride and boot into the other OS. Remember, if you hide your computer box and show the movie on the screen, all you would see is the movie. Does the OS matter at that time?
I don't think so!
By the way, don't you just like the quality of the Star Wars trailer? I just love it and it's smooth baaaaaaaaabyyyyyyyyyyyyy thanks to sorenson.
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 rules.
MPEG is available.
Gawd, you're probably one of those lusers who think cross-platforms means "runs on Windows and MacOS".
Get real..
Did it ever occur to you that a lot of Linux users *ARE* Mac and PC users?
mtv is good. It has not been supported on other unix than Linux however.
mtv is good. It has not been supported on other unix than Linux however for some time.
"A common enemy does not a true friend make"?
Seriously, I don't know where this is from. Someone tell me. Please.
Everyone's getting so emotional about apple.
They don't matter. They're already gone.
They aren't reaching out to the open source
community *or* clawing at them. Apple's
dead hand has just flopped out of the coffin
due to a muscle spasm or reflex and got close
enough to people to freak them out.
Kind of reminds me of "Thriller"
The glyph ';-)' is meant to be
suggestive of a smiling wink, as
in, "I know my statment is absurd,
and I think it is funny as well".
Quicktime runs on BeOS also...
Paying people for stuff is a nice way of showing support for their efforts. Kind of a charitable thing to do, like donating money to Save The Children. Software companies don't need it.
:)
Then there's the other side, when you really want what the developer has got, and are prepared to shell out for it. Like I will be doing for Quake 3 soon.
What I find objectionable is this kind of tie-in. Its a kind of Microsoftish hegemony-of-content. If the people behind this agreement (or others like it) have their way, I will be paying a hell of a lot, for a few things (or one thing) I absolutely must have, plus a mass of garbage. Marketing will have christened this a multimedia-3D-realtime-interactive-netblaster package. It will suck to use, thrash the latest hardware, and cost a mint. And everyone will _need_ it.
At that point, you can support me by providing the bullet.
> I really don't know why anyone uses it [Quicktime] in the first place
I've been working on multimedia CR-ROMs for five years. I know why QuickTime is popular there, and why I wouldn't spend my time on some other technology. I know something you don't.:)
Hint for you: QuickTime != Codec.
BTW, did you know that QuickTime was choosen to be the foundation for the next MPEG standard? Ups..
Sometimes all this anti-apple attitude makes you all pretty short sighted, doesn't it?
Linux doesn't have a media layer worth mentioning - of course they won't give away the internals (Sorenson being one part), because everyone pays for QT 3.
Morons.
Sure! I'd be honored! :)
Although it's a little long for a sig..
Feel free to edit to taste.
if it would help them to sell more boxes.
"Grandma, why do you have such a big mouth?...
Grandma, why do you have such big teeth?..."
Hoping that someone is writing your device drivers
(which you need to stay in the market) shows
that you are clever, but doesn't make you an
Open Source player.
Hailing eveyone as Open Source member who
opens up some source code is as believing
its your grandma who is sitting in the bed
because this person has a white bed cap
on and speaks with a high voice.
Did someone say wolf alert?
> To my eye, it's no better than CinePak. Is it also supposed to be better than MPEG?
I have worked with these things for years. Believe me, Sorenson is a very good codec. Our company uses Sorenson on every CD-ROM we make, and we make many. Moreover MPEG, cinepak and sorenson are all codecs. QuickTime is not a codec but much much more. It can play also MPEG.
Ya, I want to use it as a sig too. That way, 5 years from now my Apple friends can chuckle at yet another shortsighted "prediction of immediate doom" for Apple.
I viewed the clip. I didn't play by Apple's rules or use their closed app. So get lost all you Apple posers. Can't keep a good hacker down.
The format is not better or worse. Just something they can legally control because you lunatics actually believe in their system of morality.
--I'll make fire for you, but you better not make anymore without my permission.
Do you feel impotent because Apple released some of its code in an open-source manner?
If you believe in Linux, why do you have to cut down other people's platform choice? Can't your own platform stand on its own merits?
Apple did _NOT_ say "No" to Xanin. Xanin _NEVER_ even asked Apple!!
LINUX's reputation as a platform of whiners is just beginning.
Let your whine be heard -- it will surely make M$ happy to be able to dismiss the linux using populace because of immature & inappropriate actions being taken by certain members. Please, do what SiliconProphet says.
Apple's not doomed, it's decomposing.
But people keep throwing money at the
beast.
I use it under Solaris.
MpegTV gives great quality playing MPEGs. I actually bought it.
You mean to tell me that there's a QuickTime player for DOS?! ;)
(DRDOS 7.02
My point being that some of us don't have that "other OS" to boot up.
I think linux supports almost every cd-burner
its the scsi interfaces, such as the crappy parallel port crap that is the problem.
I have had better luck with this than with Xanim. It definitely seems faster and I think its opensource too. Of course it doesn't do mpeg audio just like XAnim. Sorry, I haven't found a specific web site, but it is probably on MetaLab/Sunsite. There are also nice frontends for it like TKMpeg from Freshmeat.
Now does it take one click to install Apache on your Linux/BSD machine? AND have it configured correctly? No? Didn't think so. It does in X Server :-D
I am sick of you linux users.
I tried linux and found it was cool.
You say you are for open-source (all open source), but you arn't.
You are only for linux.
You hate *BSD.
You seem to hate apple for releasing some of their OS.
Why is this?
Because you don't want competition.
You want a monopoly.
I applaud apple for releasing some of the code.
They didn't release *only* code that was already open.
They realeased other code (I/O kit, one of the best driver api's around)
Netscape didn't release all the code for comunicator, is any one mad at them
You are just mad apple rejected you...
... and didn't release MOSX with a linux core.
Erm, so the kernel, the filesystem etc. are small and insignifigant? Yeah. Right...
This isn't a black and white issue. Dimwit.
You don't have any idea what you're talking about, do you?
seei nux/
http://heroine.tampa.fl.us/quicktime/quicktimel
For info on a linux impl of the quicktime file
format. It is a good start.
As a consumer I can tell you MPEG plays MUCH BETTER than Sorenbitch on Linux. Even full screen.
Ive seen apple running quicktime2.5 on an SGI irix box in '97, so hell, they did have it running in some unix box, what now?
Oh i guess they dont want other OS's the success.
Shall we say, selling one product by the success of another, aka MS w/IE4.
Head down to the WWDC99 in SanJose in May and talk to the QT devlopers DIRECTLY to the face, the actual coders, and you might even speak to Stevey baby himself!!!
Get of your ass and do something.
Since quicktmie is in 68k and PPC, 68k is realy easy to read assemlby, so reverse engineering 68k code is quite simple, just read it and do it by hand, a 150k codec or decodec wouldnt be hard at all.
Hell, where are the dedicated students that used to RE things in the 80's ??? Are they all smoking crack and surfing porno sites???
Where is the hacker dedication that we used to have? hell, I guess theres no one any good out there.
Reverse engineer it, release it as source on some russian site and im sure it would raise a few eyebrowes!
What a pompass wooose!
Is it hard to upload it to a russian server?
MORON
have some balls and release it
i agree :)
no need to write my own comment to his lame posting....
/ scud
exactly, Sorenbitch doesn't raise a candle to MPEG.
both netscape & ibm are contributing to free software community , something that apple isnt doing
apple is only pretending that they are supporting
free software community, so they can fall back on free software community in case macos X becomes failure.
i say screw macosX , lets work on GNU/Linux, GNU/Hurd, OpenBSD and other true free software OS'es
ps. and yes i have spent more than five minuts on mac , and it still sucked, i was using it for 30 minutes and everytime netscape crashed whole machine needed to be rebooted, thats what i call BAD os... macos == os for clueless ppl
/ scud
I'm a linux user and I have machine with FreeBSD installed and another with BeOS installed. I like trying new things. I dislike apple because I don't like their blatant ignorance of other operating systems. A minrotiy market-share holder should not attempt to copycat the actions of a majority market-sharre holder, because it is not going to work.
What are you talking about? I just downloaded the src to xanim. The codecs aren't open source because the author can not release them due to licensing restrictions placed UPON him NOT by him.
I don't know how many times I've heard the easy fix for this. Set your clock ahead a year and play a movie. Click Later. Now set your f***ing clock back.
There. Now you don't have to click Later for a whole year. Repeat as needed.
Or, you could get a life and just pay for Quicktime Pro. I don't know though - Maybe $29 is too much. That's probably a full weeks pay for such a master burger-flipper as yourself.
It seems silly that after they picked *you know what* animal for a Quicktime developer icon ( see http://www.apple.com/quicktime/developers/ ) that they would then turn around and diss the primary source of QT support on Linux. What maroons!
Apple -- rotten to the core!
No, I think it was originally Picasso...I think
sjobs@apple.com - but stuff reportedly piles up and gets deleted en masse there.
leadership@apple.com is something many marketroids carefully go through. That's not to be scoffed at, leadership is credited with the recent success at Apple backing down off the $995 price tag for OS X Server. Now it's $450, and $250 educational. They DO listen. Unfortunately, a Linux port of QT is probably out of the question. I think Apple really wants to try (and prolly fail) to out-linux linux with OS X.
Notice, too the language used by the Open Source crowd Ñ the good of the "community," (of what I'm not sure)"polluted," etc. The folks sound like Fidel; "OK, everything is nationalized. What, you worked hard on that? Yeah, well, I deserve it too, because we're all free here! That's why I'm taking your stuff!" And they aren't satisfied with the OS Ñ "you fascist pigs! Give us your GUI, too, you capitalist! And your best codecs!" Open Source is for free exchange, addition, and improvement; that's why they're asking for every jot and tittle of Apple's best stuff and lifeblood. All I hear on this forum is "take, take, take." Has anyone said, hey, I want to improve on Apple's work? No, they're all a bunch of 18 year old wanna be coders dissatisfied with the warez selection.
Ooh. I feel better now.
You're right, they didn't directly say no to Xanim, but they kept Sorenson from providing Xanim with the Sorenson codec. And what do you mean "its own merits"? Do you mean "Why don't you have a proprietary codec and keep others from using it?" If I missed something than by all means flame me...
-I am one of the voices in your head
MacosX is NeXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP means OPENSTEP. In the Linux/BSD
world this means GNUSTEP which can provide
a great and portable developing environment (especially for graphical user interface).
This is what those great OSes lacks.
Don't concentrate on stupid wars!! open your
mind and build.
What? Are you stupid. Everybody knows Al Gore invented Apache ;-)
MacOS X is NeXTSTEP. NeXTSTEP exists since 1988.
Far before Linux.
The strength of NeXTSTEP is OPENSTEP.
All the people I know who used it love it.
This is why GNU has a GNUSTEP project.
There may be far more Linux users than NeXTSTEP
users, but that doesn't mean NeXTSTEP doesn't worth something. (There are far more windows
users than there are Linux users).
You may have a whole brain, but you don't seam to use it.
I love Linux (I am working on GNUSTEP/Linux)
but I see some Linux users become
as stupid as Windows/MacOs8 blind and ingnorant
integrists.
Just for linux stupid integrists: "Linux sucks, GNU HURD is far better".
Stop the integrists war and build a better world.
destroying MacOSX/OpenStep doesn't make any sense
as Linux/BSD/HURD needs GNUSTEP.
Variety is the spice of life. Let hybrids live.
This is why Linux may become a big shit ....
as you will run commercial Non-Open Source
apps on top of an Open Source OS
Be logical this is what MacOS X is. This OS
is open sourced, not the apps running on top
of it.
My biggest regret is that I would have liked
that the Postscript server was open sourced:
I like to have the choice for my window manager,
and thoses sources would have helped the GNUSTEP
project
variety is the spice of life
A BeOS user? does that explain why you ...
dislike OS X aka NeXTSTEP?? are you so jalous
apple bought NeXT and not be. Put your anger
away, NeXTSTEP is a wonderfull OS, and OPENSTEP
the best developing environment ever made.
Be patient GNUSTEP comes
variety is the spice of life - Dai ju yume
and who cares... as long as its not free i wont use it... anyway afterstep/wmaker is probably better then some propreitery shit.....
The point is that some people think Java is a better language.
> I guess 3.5 million downloads of the Star Wars trailer prove
;-) ) :):):):):):):):)
> that it was so limited.
The web pages that hosted the files DID NOT STATE that some new weirdo
codec was required. I downloaded 20+ Meg of crap expecting to be able
to see it in my usual quicktime player.
It did not work. I got audio, but blank video.
So then I started up my Mac emulator. MacOS 8.1's SimplePlayer was also
unable to play the movie.
So I deleted it. I wonder what % of the people who downloaded it couldn't
get it to play. You 3.5 million number would be a lot smaller if the hosts
had a message saying, "Oh by the way, this 20 Meg movie might not actually
be playable for you."
I still haven't seen the preview (although I _was_ able to play the South
Park spoof AVI). IMHO, using a closed and unsupportable format is fine
in a local situation. On the Internet, it is wrong.
At this point, the proper thing to do is boycott the movie.
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):
It's not a technicality. Before getting into a huff about this, Apple should first be given a chance to allow the licensing. Apple hasn't even been consulted here.
Btw, Apple was pivotal in Sorenson codec even being created. Without their input & contributions the codec would not even exist.
"its own merits" means "its own merits"
The idea is also contained in "If linux is so great, than why do linux users need to down parts of the MacOS (or its creator)." I'm not saying linux is not great nor that linux does not have merits (it does). [If what I'm getting at seems unclear, take a simple logic course.]
And part of what I'm saying involves proper etiquette. No I'm not going to flame you or any one else. Linux users that choose to flame Apple over this are taking a very bad step. Whining (harassment here) is not how to get someone to come over and agree with your point of view. Act mature, act nicely, and give Apple a chance to solve the problem here. Then take appropriate action. Reverse engineer the codec if Apple won't even provide the linux platform Sorenson. At that point it is totally appropriate, just not yet.
I think the point is, we could have a great codec of our own, but we'd rather only have a few damn video formats to deal with.
And other people like LISP, or Forth. Now where are my elisp video codecs?
"I don't like their blatant ignorance of other operating systems"
What are you talking about? Why would this, if it were even true, make you dislike Apple. Again, do you feel rejected?
The Market for MacOS is PowerPC-based computers. Last I checked Apple pretty much is the majority player here, Linux doesn't even come close.
What actions is Apple copycat-ing? Why isn't it going to work? You are very unclear in your writing.
I'm glad you like trying new things. How about getting along with others?
Instead of promoting OS dependance why not port Quicktime to a OS independent form, e.g. Java. Well check out http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtjava and if any of you out there want Quicktime on Linux well just figure out how to use the Java version of QT on Linux.
That makes more sense than making Quicktime for Linux staight.
Read the licence statement at http://xanim.va.pubnix.com/xa_copylic.html. Note that is *isn't* open source, because it can only be used for non-commercial uses.
Video? In Java?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
*cough*
sorry, it's just that Java isn't exactly known for, uh, speed...
They're no better than Microsoft, and, with the way they're pimping Open Source for their own gain (Apache, etc...), they could be considered worse.
Screw them.
- A.P.
--
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I don't see what everyone is whining about - Xanim is not open-source either.
The article title is very misleading. If you go to the xanim page, you'll see that Apple did NOT SAY "NO".
Apple's policy with the codec they paid a lot to help develop is not to license it out. However, no one has asked them to make an exception for xanim. Apple has not said no, because they have not been requested.
Maybe if we request that Apple does, they will. But they've done nothing wrong yet.
I'd sure hate to get slammed for saying "no" to a question that was never asked of me.
I have no problem with MOV - as a matter of fact, I kinda prefer it.
If it don't work with xanim... I don't watch it.
.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
Posted by His name cannot be spoken:
It is important to note the effect that slashdot postings can have on companies. After Toshiba said that they would not release information for the IR interface, everybody rallied around and boycotted Toshiba. Then 3 days later they gave the information. Now, I personally wouldn't be caught dead in the same room as a mac, but I'm sure there are some who don't mind 'em. Show apple your stripes. Tell them it's not OK to pretend to be supportive of Open Source when their only goals are for their immediate gain. Free the Format! -
There's a RealVideo version of trailer #2 at
http://solo.gatech.edu/
-adam a
ps. I agree, 'tis a shame, Sorenson rocks.
one of the things thats good about linux
is that you can choose (or migrate)your hardware without worrying about software. this is lessening
with all the binary only software out there.
There are companies like Mental Ray who write
good software for all platforms of linux as well
as the other OSs they support. (of course being
funded by hollywood may have something to do
with why they can afford to do this)
but anyway, it is another reason that open source
software is preferable.
>Just because someone is trying to make a dollar doesn't mean they are out to get you.
Yes, but if you want to hop on the open source bandwagon (like Apple just did), the price is at least some respect for the tenets. For example, at least don't inconvenience people for no gain of your own. If I can use this codec on Windows, it's not an Apple exclusive -- so what does it cost Apple to allow it to run on Linux? Nothing. So why should they disallow it?
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
>they are supporting open source as long as they can make any money of it.
Uh-uh. And Netscape, IBM, Oracle, Informix et al. are just doing it out of their great philantropic ideals....?
Get real--these are companies whose primary purpose of existence is to make money and make their shareholders happy.
But as long as they benefit OS movement in the process, we're all happy.
And please, spend more than 5 minutes working on a Mac before you bash it.
Come on Apple, help us out, huh? Allow binary only libraries if you have to, but allow us the CODEC.
The codec was really developed by some EE called Huang but named after his boss Sorenson. Now that really sucks for Huang.
Steve Jobless has a knack for picking out great ideas like the Imac, firewire, and the GUI, but he falls on his face when it comes to licensing those ideas. Today while every other company realizes licensing their technology to third parties is the only way to survive, Apple is the single company wanting to remain the sole proprietor of its technology.
Sorenson is the best codec out there by a mile at the moment.
It is really annoying when closed source is not only closed by also _better_
Are there any OS codec projects? It's a pretty tough field...
-----
The way they go on about apache on their web pages is sickening. You'd think they were the first person to discover it. Hell, they aren't even the first big business. IBM was way before them.
Open Source at the moment fits in rather well with Apple's image - the whole 'slightly rebellious, but squeaky clean and terribly stylish "think differnt"' thing. It's all crap.
And they boast about how Apache 1.3.4 is a 'core component' of OS X. Sure... like it's somehow more core than every other BSD/Linux distro that bundles it.
I'm sorry, at least Microsoft are willing to say "We're big, ugly, and we aim to win by any means possible". Apple are just as ugly, want to be just as big, but are twice as slimey.
And, in the balance, Microsoft have produced more decent software than Apple. Scary, huh?
-----
they are better.
Sorenson is one of the best codecs around. That's why Apple won't show the source or license it.
Apple are happy to open up the stuff they have that's no use. A bunch of badly written drivers, some mucked about BSD code.
Apple are just hoping some programmer out there comes along and fixes a few bugs for them. When it comes to giving back to the community by opening up the stuff they've done properly - quicktime, the GUI, etc. - oh, suddenly they aren't so keen.
At least Microsoft aren't asking a bunch of Linux programmers to help them do their dirty laundry.
I always thought Apple were kinda cuddly but incompetent - flashes of genius amongst lots of well-intentioned screw ups.
Now I think they are just a bunch of tossers who want to cash in on anything and save their sorry asses. OS X isn't even BSD with a nice GUI. It's first and foremost BSD with Apple branding. And, now, apparently, Apache branding.
Hell, looking at the Apple site (http://www.apple.com/macosx/server/apache.html) you'd think they invented Apache, or funded it 100% themselves or something.
Wankers.
-----
Alas - you are behaving like a rational person and reading all the small print.
After working in the advertising industry, I can tell you that what counts is what the person sees in the first 1.25 seconds.
Your text "Certified implementation.." appears in knocked back (adspeak for 'made less obvious') text in smaller print to the side of the main article.
What the person sees is the Apache logo incorporated AS PART OF an Apple product (the logo is on the screen of a G4). This would break most companies' use of logo guidelines. Alas that Apache has none.
Also, the headline (what the managers remember) says "Mac OSx server proudly presents Apache".
I've ignored the second line of the headline? Sure I have. So will the readers (subconsciously).
It's all very sad, but it's all very true.
-----
How about a general UNIX port, I use solaris and have a great video card, yet I have to use my old Mac to view quicktime!
Mike Mangino
mmangino@acm.org
The problem as I see it is that Apple refuse to directly support Quicktime under non-Apple/MS platforms - and also refuse to let anone else support it. If they released a Quicktime player for linux/unix things would be fine. As it is I have no access to either a Mac or a windows PC (I run linux at home and work in an SGI/Solaris shop) so I can't watch the trailer. I have no choice. Simple as that. Nick
-- "It's a sad day for American capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park" - Jim Moran
...are probably (my guess, anyway) to keep Microsoft's hands off it. They're trying to keep something to distinguish QuickTime from its competitors (namely, Microsoft Media Player).
As a public company with shareholders, it has to do something to generate interest in its products, otherwise the perceived value of Apple's stock drops through the floor. They *do* have a bottom line to worry about. That being said, QuickTime being ported to other platforms is very possible, given that they've already moved it to two beyond the MacOS (Win32, OS [Ne]X[T] Server).
With all the locked mindsets about Apple's business practices, it's a wonder anyone drives a Ford (*cough* Exploding Pinto *cough*).
-cfw
--
The Future: Some assembly required; batteries not included.
First of all, source code is one thing but 0 support is another - which is the case in the Sorenson codec. Apple didn't say, "you can't have the source code". Xanim has 3 modules that are distributed as binaries only because of that sort of agreement. What Apple said was "you have to pay us to allow people to view the movies *WE* made". If they make these movies you would think that they would want people to see them.
Troll Tech is another completely different case. Troll Tech came up with a really good window toolkit that didn't catch on because although it was free for users it was not open source.
Joseph Elwell.
Talks of a Linux port of QuickTime by Apple have been around for ages. I would consider this a good sign that Apple could be willing to do this; why prohibit something from being ported to a platform unless you have plans to do that yourself?
I think that, once again, we should wait and see what happens. That's one thing I've noticed on Slashdot: the average reader is far too quick to jump to conclusions.
Apple behaves like just another (failed) Microsoft, yet around here we treat them as if they were brothers or something. M$ - Closed proprietary software Apple - Closed proprietary hardware AND software.
--
As long as each individual is facing the TV tube alone, formal freedom poses no threat to privilege.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
I can tolerate Apple for the time being. Every iMac that gets sold is another $500.00 or so that doesn't go to Uncle Bill.
--
As long as each individual is facing the TV tube alone, formal freedom poses no threat to privilege.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
does anyone know whether quicktime or windows media player
work under WINE yet??
judging from the posts here, /. readers seem to hate apple enough they boycott it no matter what.
I made the mistake of recommending an Imac to someone last week. I didn't even hate the guy, but now he is going to be stuck with a cute box that is closed. I cannot help him if he has a problem (except for things like not plugged in, etc...) Apple seems to be the pinnacle of marketing and trapping people into their side of the fence.
Apple is/has ported QuickTime to Java... it's still "devel" quality... but once it hits, expect to run it on your box
Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
Apple is the Italy to Microsoft's Germany. They are inconsequential, but just as ambitios.
--
Aaron Gaudio
"The fool finds ignorance all around him.
"Every man is a mob, a chain gang of idiots." - Jonathan Nolan, Memento Mori
Man, fast server - fastest RealVideo connection :)
I've ever gotten 200 kilo bytes per second (yes
bytes, not bits). Damn I love my cable modem
there are two kinds of people in this world - those who divide people into two groups and those who don't
| I bet 99% of all linux [users] just rebooted
| into [Windows] and downloaded the trailer from
| there.
Actually, I just downloaded the mpeg. Viewed it with mpegtv on my Alpha. Under Linux.
-- Rick
I love it!
support gun control: take guns from cops
I and a few others have campaigned quite vigorously on the QuickTime Developers and QuickTime 4 lists for Linux/Solaris support to be added to QT. The response back has allways been that they aren't interested (although I have heard different from other Apple sources).
If you want QT for Linux lobby Apple.
Or persuade content developers to use Real and persuade Real to do G2 on Linux (Likely).
Or set up a project to write an Open Source Codec of comparable quality to Sorenson (not easy).
QuickTime if FREE - you only pay for the Pro version
Mark Podlipec has put forth an incredible effort to support as many video formats as he has time for. He has sent emails to the various companies involved, has expressed willingness to compromise when licensing has been an issue, and all in all has gone out of his way for the community and the good of the code.
Just wanted to say thanks, Mark.
Next time you want to complain about something xanim doesn't support, find out why; chances are Mark or someone else has given it their best shot.
Bare feet == healthier feet. Get your facts straight. See The Dirty Sole Society web page for more facts. "Yellow toe nails", if meant to imply fungus, happens more frequently to the shod. Dark, damp environments promote fungus growth. Bare feet do not live in such environments.
I do all my REAL work under Linux and only use M$ for cd burning, playstation game copying, and watching a few videos. Linux 95% of the time, however.
Aww, lets not be bittermans, you should really *read* the licence (this applies to all). The open source is for Mac OS X Server, IE NeXT/Openstep OS - *NOT MAC OS*. This means that any source which includes Quicktime and the Mac OS is simply *NOT* for the offering - PERIOD. It could not be spelled out more clearly so don't whine about *major* portions of the Mac OS (ie System 8+ and QT) missing because *none* of it has been offered.
Apple will always be the underdog next to MS so they will always struggle to impress the rest of us. As for Jobs pulling the clones out, hell Apple would be the smallest supplier of machines if Power Computing was still around. And if you know Apple then you'd know the HW profits feed and cloth them.
Stop your moaning, Jobs is a hippie who likely smoked weed and walked around barefoot with yellow toe nails. I doubt that Gates even knows what a joint is (or seen a yellow yoe nail)- so who do you trust now?
I doubt that this will affect MS much in the *near* future but I would really be interested in hearing some level headed responces as to what people assume Bill Gates is thinking.
S.L.
Er er, jackass. What are the figures? Where did you get them? And what is your proof that *more* Linux users *need* access to QT than Mac and PC users?
Maybe a little thought should be put into our comments before posting. Flame away about any OS you choose but please provide some factual basis.
S.L.
They don't actually need to release the source code to the Sorenson. Xanim already supports a number of binary-only codec modules.
Since they already give away the Quicktime viewer for Windows and the Mac, I don't see what they have to lose, other than the threat that Linux will overtake MacOS in popularity. By some accounts, it already has.
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
Another thing: it's perfectly legal. So long as you can prove you developed your process independently of the other, there is no patent issue involved. This is why, among other things, MS can't stop SMB's being ported to Linux.
--
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. "
I have seen no objective proof, only hype from Apple, about how wonderful this codec is. To my eye, it's no better than CinePak. Is it also supposed to be better than MPEG?
Apple is so transparent. Their hard-on for Sorenson is just an attempt to beat Microsoft at its own game of CLOSED PROPRIETARY "standards". We are just incidental roadkill.
Send mail to Fox and Lucasfilm telling them that you couldn't watch their clip, thanks to their choice of "technology".
Just don't make Marc Podlipec really mad, or he might reverse engineer the sucker. He's done it before. What say, Marc?
I have the utmost respect for Marc, his code, and his contributions to computing freedom, but, lest people be afraid to undertake similar efforts, the truth needs to be known.
He withdrew the CinePak source because Radius threatened legal action, and because Radius paid him to do so.
Now that an Anonymous Coward is telling me Sorenson is better, I believe it. Thanks for lending your credibility.
I was recently recompressing a piece of video of mine, looking at the quality carefully, and Cinepak is definitely quite crappy. Lots of pixelation and screwed up color palette.
Sorenson, though not perfect, is far more faithful to the original and pleasant to look at. The only downside I see is the CPU requirement which makes it practically unplayable on anything slower than 100 Mhz...
MPEG, in my experience, has some major playback control problems, often stuttering or lacking proper audio/video syncing.
IIRC quicktime embeds MPEG just as i embeds any other format. btw, I don't know shit about mpeg 4; I've just worked with QT and MPEG1
-- we turn sound into light...
sorenson is better.
Do you believe now?
(jeez... how many fucking jackass idiot zealot dumbfuck linux "pseudo-defenders" who have minimal experience with non-linux/non-windows stuff are there on slashdot anyway? linux would be far more popular without the damage you no-brain pimplefaced morons cause the community when you mindlessly bash stuff you *really* know nothing about... open your fucking minds, morons... sometimes methinks that the majority of the linux zealots are ex-windows lamers that just changed os's to be more "in"...)
tnt -- somewhat annoyed...
btw: "death to all fanatics"/sl
-- we turn sound into light...
MPEG was choosen to be the basis of the next Quicktime version.. not the other way around.
Then why windows at all... you can do all of that in Linux, unless there aren't any drivers for your specific Cd-Burner/TV card (WinTv and Diamond's TV both work great, as well do others based on the bt848 chipset)
They do. They make decisions regardless of what consumers want (iMac floppy), that are bad for their own business (Mac clones), and will enivitabely cause their future bankrupcy (inability to work well with others). If they want Quicktime to be popular, then they have to let other people use it. Are they morons or something? Eventually people are just going to stop using Quicktime (I really don't know why anyone uses it in the first place).
I thought Apple was warming up to Linux by supporting LinuxPPC/mkLinux. You'd think they'd want Quicktime to be a CROSS-PLATFORM video codec. But no, Apple is just being Apple - stupid.
Oh well, I give em 5 more years before they shoot themselves in the head once in for all.
I didn't look for specific addresses, but the Sorenson site appears to be at http://www.s-vision.com/.
--
The Internet is the Suppository of All Knowledge. You get it in the end.
I wonder how hard the codec would be to reverse enginneer.
;)
Hell, the codec modules are around 5K.
You could practically brute force it.
Just because someone is trying to make a dollar doesn't mean they are out to get you. Just because something is *inconvenient* to you doesn't mean it violates the open source ethic.
You want a free codec as good as sorenson? Go write one. Port it to quicktime. Give it away free to lucasfilm and everyone. But don't bitch because someone who -did- put in the effort didn't decide to give it to you for free.
Open source is about admirable people giving away stuff they worked hard on and cooperating. What I hear here is the same lame bitching the script kiddies do when they can't get Q3A on their favorite wAreZ servers.
Worst of all, CmdrTaco seems to have bought in on this one and posted a pretty editorially biased article.
Anyways. I support Apple for making great products, despite the odds. I support Troll Tech for making a great desktop environment possible (one that doesn't crash). I even support Larry Wall, despite the fact that his profit model means I have to buy lots of out-of-date books rather than getting good online documentation and tutorials. All these folks, and more, have given us great stuff, often for cheap or free. Sure, I want more....and if I rub this here lamp and the genie comes out........
Please folks, stop being lame.
I just don't like clicking on the "Later" button everytime I want to watch a Quicktime movie.
SuSE
Caldera
Stampede
3 major linux distributions that ship KDE.
Didn't catch on? Perhaps that's just wishful thinking.
Well considering I don't know of any players for sorensen, it seems pretty obvious that mpegs play better.
-matt
What exactly would be the point? You already can view QuickTime on windows and the mac. Isn't java's entire point to be cross-platform. It just seems like a waste of cpu cycles for something that could be better done using standard c/c++.
-matt
The Quicktime File Format was chosen to be the BASIS for MPEG-4. The final version of MPEG-4 will incluse elements from MS's Advanced Streaming Format and others.
The amazing thing all these Open Source zealots also ignore is that fact that , just because a company starts open sourcing, this new 'agreement' does NOT supersede all previous contracts. Open Source is not the 10 commandments and it does not override agreements previously in place unless specifically stated as such. Chances are, Sorenson doesnt want Open Source having their codec anymore then Apple does. They 'blame' Apple but is it really Apple's fault?
Grow up people.
i threw win98 onto aspare hardrive and booted that
:)
just to see if there was a noticable difference.
the mpeg version worked fine for me
but i would definitely like to see quicktime on linux...
brian
Heh, at least they figured it out before Microshaft...
Alright, the whole open source argument is kind of getting silly. Apple deciding to open the source to OS 10 should be regarded as a good thing, not like they're GNU wannabes that didn't have the balls to go all the way. Deriding Apple for only releasing part isn't very constructive. M$ hasn't released anything, why don't people sh*t on them more? Saying that since Apple isn't releasing all of their code, they're as bad as a company notorious for not releasing all of their API's to external developers is pretty damn dumb.
Just raise the taxes on crack.
So.. send those letters! Apple has not been contacted yet.. well, likely by -now- it has.. but you get the drift.
----
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Freedom."
you heard it right here, folks. get a life: become a trolling AC.
-- neil
I think it's a typo. Apple probably does however have a trademark on "Open Sores".
I don't understand why the "dec" part or all these codecs are so protected even in binary form. They give it away for other platforms don't they?
I'll wait for Star Wars on videotape as long as it isn't Apple Quicktime for VHS.
- strange planet, Earth.
Quite right.
I won't even give them 5 years. (Newton Users have Long Memories)...Then Gates can complete his buyout.
. It's been pretty plain since microsloth's $150 million investment/bailout that Steve Jobs is a shill for Bill Gates.
--vead
"..you open source hippies."
Someday, You (sir or madame, can't tell because You didn't have the cojones to sign Your words) will have a need for a piece of software that won't yet exist when You need it.
And You may have to ask for help from one of these "open source hippies" as You have calumnified and characterised them here.
Pray it isn't me...I might not be so ideologically pure that I won't let You starve.
oh, 1 more thing...Bill Gates is one of those stockholders. Apple ill-serves itself if it thinks the Open Source Community will forget that.
Apples moves wrt "opening" some of OS X seem to me to be transparent pandering, without really putting much of anything on the table. I say screw OS X. Concentrate on Linux. Let us not divide ourselves or dilute our purpose...great and robust open code.
--vead
This is likely to incense a lot of people. I believe Apple could be prevailed upon either to change their minds or to release a Linux port of Quicktime. If they don't, I imagine an open source project to reverse engineer the Sorenson codec would receive a lot of support. Heck, that'll probably happen sooner or later anyway.
Would anyone who happens to know Steve Jobs' email address please get CmdrTaco to put it up on the front page? An immediate deluge of angry email to the right mailbox would probably be the quickest way round this.
I'll be writing to Lucasfilm to complain too.
Apple is a ball or yarn. Mark Podiplek is but a mere goldfish in the pet store of life. Long live Intel Indio!!!!!!
--
Beef
"Raging Moderate" of the
Sorenson probably made a lot of money on the deal. . QT put them on the map, kept their programers employed etc.....
Then apple gives it away to mac and win users... Those greedy bastards..
Maybe if you ask nicely qt could be ported to linux...?
-A
So where does he say he dislikes OS X?
When is xanim going to fully support mpeg? The last version I got only supports mpeg 1 - with certain frame types, with no sound.
Oh... And if Bill Gates wasn't around, Steve Jobs would take his place as the Computer Industry Anti-Christ.
Meldroc, Waster of Electrons
I ended up getting the mpeg version of the Star Wars Trailer. Xanim will not handle this version though, so I had to get mtv & endure it's bugs & obnoxious nagware/crippleware behavior. I will pay for shareware if it's good & useful, but I get so annoyed when a program is designed to tease you with a vital feature & then not let you use it in a useful situation) (mtv won't let you start in DGA full screen mode from the command line (at least that's not documented) & when you start it up from it's GUI interface, it cuts the sound off after 90 seconds & throws a nagware message on the screen. That irritated me so much that I will not pay for that program, I'm looking for alternatives.
I think that we really do need a good Open Source video format, then we can simply convert from the proprietary formats & watch our movies in peace. (MPEG comes closest - since it is an industry standard, it's easier to get specs for its codecs, but it's algorithms are still patented & can become lawsuit magnets...)
Meldroc, Waster of Electrons
xanim isn't open source according to its homepage. It is only free for non-commercial use. It's free beer with a recipe included, but you can't buy it at a packie or at a bar.
You would think that slashdot is a social experiment, and some social scientists are going to come out with a paper talking about how people who post to it are as cattlelike as any other group of people, despite whinging and whining about how individualistic and independant they are.
You're a suburbanite.
Of course it's not Free in the FSF sense. It
isn't Open Source either. What I am pointing out
is the hypocracy of the slashdot crowd in
bitching about one non-open source party refusing
to help another non-open source party.
See the idiocy now?
You're a suburbanite.
Why are you mad at Apple? Seems like you should be mad at the Sorenson people
for their proprietary technology and exclusive licensing of it. Am I right?
Apple has never claimed that Apache is theirs and theirs only. And they have never claimed that they are the only ones making it a core component of their OS.
Linux people love to brag about all the free software (like Apache) they get with their OS. Why shouldn't Apple do the same?
- StrangeDaze
Oh well, I give em 5 more years before they shoot themselves in the head once in for all.
People have been saying that for 20 years...
- StrangeDaze
Losing the cloners was too bad, but I'd rather have no clones than a dying Apple. Many people, myself included, consider the new (blue & white) G3s to be an excellent value, probably Apple's best price/performance ratio ever. And, while it would be nice to have more choice of Mac hardware, Apple's prices haven't really risen any since cloning died. If anything, they've come down quite a bit (on their high end machines) and a whole hell of a lot on their consumer offering (iMac).
Again with the BeOS comments...I keep seeing this BeOS bullshit pop up after every Apple story. When will people give this one up? It's pretty obvious that Apple doesn't want Be on their hardware and Be doesn't want to waste their time maintaining the PowerPC version of BeOS when Intel is such a bigger opportunity for them.
And, don't forget, FireWire was chosen as an industry standard by the IEEE, which by the way doesn't prevent companies from profitting from these standards. Apple has been charging licensing fees for FireWire all along. The latecomers were asked to pay more, but after they made a stink Apple joined a few other companies in an effort to promote use of FireWire in the industry by creating a licensing program that they all approve of. Check here for more info on that one:
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,3 2501,00.html
- StrangeDaze
Hey, didn't Jobs say "Good artists create, great artists steal"? Isn't that what Bill does? Actually, he has scads of shiny things, so he can buy these things.
The party's over
Of course, these proprietary codecs aren't mandated. People choose to use them. Why this is so, I could not tell you.
The issue isn't that it should be free, especially
with the new version of xanim that allows dynamically loaded codecs. Sorenson is an excellent codec, and I'd be willing to pay them for it. I'll even grudgingly grant them the right to limit its use if that's what they really want, but that doesn't mean I can't lobby them to change that position. However, I think it's a sign of desperation for Apple to enter into such a restrictive license agreement (assuming that's how they have any say in it at all), and given the fact that my Windoze Premiere has Sorenson support, they've already let the cat out of the bag for their biggest competitor. Any further restrictions are childish.
Yes, the close the clone business. Yes, it good for them. No, it wasn't good for the consumer. Apple maintains a profit margin for their machines that PC makers could only dream of. It wouldn't surprise me if manufacturing cost of the iMac is somewhere around half its sale price. The have done that in the past. Their machines are underpowered and overpriced.
Also, heard of FireWire? Apple allowed it to become the de facto industry standard such that many companies depend on it for their products. Then, surprise! Fork over the money please. I expect they will do the same with their "open source" initiative.
And how about OS support? Did you know Apple is stonewalling efforts to port the BeOS to the new G3s? They have consistently refused to provide the necessary technical information needed to do so. You'd almost think they didn't want other OSs running on their systems.
Apple may have to compete with MicroSoft for platform market share, but in the Macintosh-compatible market, they are the monopoly. And they certainly are acting like one.
WTF? The article actually says this. Please excuse me while I destroy something.
--
Apple should release the codec to any linux developer who want to write a player because...
a) It sure doesn't look like apple will be releaseing one for a while, so not a huge loss of revenue for them.
b) Apple hasn't APSL'd some of it's code just to be nice, it will benefit massivly from the input of the Open Software community, who will develop away code that apple still has limited rights too, or write drivers for PPC OS's meaning the OS becomes more flexable, hence more adoptable at little cost to Apple, - We're giving them all this help, who about something it return.
With all these IBM, Apple etc 'Open Sorce initiatives" we seem to be running to embrace and perhaps not being as cautious as we should. When it comes down to it IBM and Apple at Corporations with Shareholders and Executives who by-and-large don't know alot about OSS but do know alot about Making money. I hope that they don't have ulteria motives, but I suspect that they are simple covering their bases or at worst profitearing.
D.