http://forums.divx.com/viewtopic.php?topic=40040&f orum=5
We've had our own problems with Sigma, but I'm suprised it came to this. Xvid is a great project and we will try to help them get back on track. Lets see what can be done.
JonKat's article really drives home something that had been hovering around my mind while I dove deeper into the web and farther and farther away from the TV.
They say that Vietnam was the TV war. The event so saturated by the media that interpreted it that the event itself was changed. The Gulf War might be considered the highest incarnation of event Television -- characterized by just the elements JK mentions. Hyper focused images extracting as much pathos as possible from the event. Tight messages. Repetition. Analysis. Hyperbole without connection.
It seems that perhaps september 11th is the first Interactive war. The impact of cell phones accross the event is astounding. The role of Internet as events unfolded is equally impacting. The tenor of coverage provided by the Net has been throughally, radically, different from the TV coverage.
As much as things will change because of this event, I am struck when considering how this event shows how much already has changed
You are kidding, right? Who exactly are the "other grownups"? As I recall, the US was handed the job of "World Superpower" when the Europeans failed in their attempt to kill everybody (cf. WWII) -- just twenty years after their previous demonstration maturity (cf. WWI).
During the intervening 57 years, we have successfully taken a role we didn't want and kept the world relatively safe and prosperous.
Have there still been conflicts and atrocities during this period? Absolutely! And we've had our fingerprints on more than a few. And yes, the US has stepped on some toes and had its fair share of arrogance. But think - after WWII, we were far and away the most powerful country in the world, probably more powerful than every other country combined. And yet we didn't get aggressive, we helped everyone else dig themselves out of a hole.
Hell, since then, we've done a pretty good job of respecting "sovereignty" -- and why should we? Look at history. The very fact that the world can be outraged when we bomb Libya or drop some troops into Nicaragua to oust Noriega highlights just how gentle we have been with our power.
Iraq doesn't like economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations?!? How about a hostile invasion, occupation, and subjugation of the entire country including repression of civil liberties and massive re-education? Virtually every great power pre WWII wouldn't have thought twice about this and more.
Finally, with regard to Mickey Mouse culture. I don't think that anyone would argue that American culture is universal perfection, but it is asinine to both fail to recognize the profound depth and richness that is present in American culture and *overlook* the stark banality that is present in every culture. Expand Britain, France, Germany, China, Japan, Italy, Sweden, Brazil, or any other countries culture to the size of the United States' and their blemishes would look pretty tacky as well.
Once more, lets not forget that while US culture might bring McDonalds, Coke and Television, it doesn't, for example, bring the kind of religious persecution that past world leaders were so famous for.
Buck,
Your assessment of the problems that the video world makes for Open Source are correct except for your summary. The patent situation isn't as much a minefield as much as a superhighway. A company like RedHat could easily incorporate an OpenDivX player in their distribution - they just need to get an MPEG-4 portfolio video license. This isn't as nice and easy as free, but its not like its going to sink the boat - after all Red Hat is a for-profit company and they shouldn't have any problem paying some small fee for the video player.
Alternatively, some enterprising OS developer could use Open DivX, develop a Linux player, apply for an MPEG-4 video portfolio license (getting the MPEG-2 license is a breeze, BTW) and then sub-license to Red Hat (again, for a fee).
Again, we'd all be happier if video could be "Open" Open, but we are pragmatists about it. OpenDivX is pretty darn good. It gets is almost all of what Open Source is about - and certainly the most important elements.
L0g05
We want to make DivX as open as possible. The video world is a little weird, so we had to make some concessions. For example, if you want to use the code but put it into a larger application that is closed and you want to sell that application, you can do that. We'd prefer that you don't (for many of the reasons mentioned in the LGPL http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html), but if you must - you can.
If you do, however, you can't call it DivX until we get a chance to check it out. This isn't exactly aimed at small open source developers;)
Same thing with the encoded content. We'd prefer that everyone make it open. But if you don't want to, no big deal. Again, however, we reserve the right to ping people who want to close their code as it were. But don't get edgy - this isn't aimed at people like Brandon. Think a bit bigger;) We are just trying to do our part to keep things a level playing field.
Hey, just want to clear some things up. There are no copyright problems with OpenDivX. All of the code is ours or is useable under the OpenDivX license without any copyright problems.
Slashdot Mirror
http://forums.divx.com/viewtopic.php?topic=40040&f orum=5
We've had our own problems with Sigma, but I'm suprised it came to this. Xvid is a great project and we will try to help them get back on track. Lets see what can be done.
Both are just fronts for the NSA to keep tabs on "undesirables".
Watch out!
JonKat's article really drives home something that had been hovering around my mind while I dove deeper into the web and farther and farther away from the TV.
They say that Vietnam was the TV war. The event so saturated by the media that interpreted it that the event itself was changed. The Gulf War might be considered the highest incarnation of event Television -- characterized by just the elements JK mentions. Hyper focused images extracting as much pathos as possible from the event. Tight messages. Repetition. Analysis. Hyperbole without connection.
It seems that perhaps september 11th is the first Interactive war. The impact of cell phones accross the event is astounding. The role of Internet as events unfolded is equally impacting. The tenor of coverage provided by the Net has been throughally, radically, different from the TV coverage.
As much as things will change because of this event, I am struck when considering how this event shows how much already has changed
You are kidding, right? Who exactly are the "other grownups"? As I recall, the US was handed the job of "World Superpower" when the Europeans failed in their attempt to kill everybody (cf. WWII) -- just twenty years after their previous demonstration maturity (cf. WWI).
During the intervening 57 years, we have successfully taken a role we didn't want and kept the world relatively safe and prosperous.
Have there still been conflicts and atrocities during this period? Absolutely! And we've had our fingerprints on more than a few. And yes, the US has stepped on some toes and had its fair share of arrogance. But think - after WWII, we were far and away the most powerful country in the world, probably more powerful than every other country combined. And yet we didn't get aggressive, we helped everyone else dig themselves out of a hole.
Hell, since then, we've done a pretty good job of respecting "sovereignty" -- and why should we? Look at history. The very fact that the world can be outraged when we bomb Libya or drop some troops into Nicaragua to oust Noriega highlights just how gentle we have been with our power.
Iraq doesn't like economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations?!? How about a hostile invasion, occupation, and subjugation of the entire country including repression of civil liberties and massive re-education? Virtually every great power pre WWII wouldn't have thought twice about this and more.
Finally, with regard to Mickey Mouse culture. I don't think that anyone would argue that American culture is universal perfection, but it is asinine to both fail to recognize the profound depth and richness that is present in American culture and *overlook* the stark banality that is present in every culture. Expand Britain, France, Germany, China, Japan, Italy, Sweden, Brazil, or any other countries culture to the size of the United States' and their blemishes would look pretty tacky as well.
Once more, lets not forget that while US culture might bring McDonalds, Coke and Television, it doesn't, for example, bring the kind of religious persecution that past world leaders were so famous for.
Buck, Your assessment of the problems that the video world makes for Open Source are correct except for your summary. The patent situation isn't as much a minefield as much as a superhighway. A company like RedHat could easily incorporate an OpenDivX player in their distribution - they just need to get an MPEG-4 portfolio video license. This isn't as nice and easy as free, but its not like its going to sink the boat - after all Red Hat is a for-profit company and they shouldn't have any problem paying some small fee for the video player. Alternatively, some enterprising OS developer could use Open DivX, develop a Linux player, apply for an MPEG-4 video portfolio license (getting the MPEG-2 license is a breeze, BTW) and then sub-license to Red Hat (again, for a fee). Again, we'd all be happier if video could be "Open" Open, but we are pragmatists about it. OpenDivX is pretty darn good. It gets is almost all of what Open Source is about - and certainly the most important elements. L0g05
There is a big change. In fact, it doesn't use any Microsoft code at all. Not even a little bit.
We want to make DivX as open as possible. The video world is a little weird, so we had to make some concessions. For example, if you want to use the code but put it into a larger application that is closed and you want to sell that application, you can do that. We'd prefer that you don't (for many of the reasons mentioned in the LGPL http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html), but if you must - you can. If you do, however, you can't call it DivX until we get a chance to check it out. This isn't exactly aimed at small open source developers ;)
Same thing with the encoded content. We'd prefer that everyone make it open. But if you don't want to, no big deal. Again, however, we reserve the right to ping people who want to close their code as it were. But don't get edgy - this isn't aimed at people like Brandon. Think a bit bigger ;) We are just trying to do our part to keep things a level playing field.
MPEG-4 is a *standard*. It includes standard frameworks for: Video Audio Systems DivX is a reference source of the Video framework.
Hey, just want to clear some things up. There are no copyright problems with OpenDivX. All of the code is ours or is useable under the OpenDivX license without any copyright problems.
Everything in OpenDivX is legal. Nothing stolen, nothing gained. But don't confuse copyright and patents.