dropping mp3 support in rh8

[Gregory Nowak]

Why is it that slackware still offers mp3 support.
Aren't they comercial too?
And how does a volenteer distro like debian fit into all of this?

Greg


On Tue, Oct 08, 2002 at 01:10:08AM +0800, Kerry Hoath wrote:
> Let me clarify the mp3 issue.
> FHG has patents on mp3 technology as to Thompson multimedia so do they.
> They demand $25US for an _encoder_ license per encoder.
> This is why projects such as lame state for educational use only.
> 
> Now FHG have changed the rules.
> For all decoders except those for non-comercial use; they want 75 cents per decoder.
> 
> Redhat is a comercial concern. They sell and give away t heir software.
> How are they to tell who uses the decoders for mp3 for
> comercial use or non-comercial use?
> If people use mpg123 for comercial use they violate the Thompson patent.
> From a legal perspective Redhat is in a bind.
> They can't uphold the patent and adhear to the gpl if they  include mp3 decoders
> in the distribution. It is safest for them to
> drop mp3  support.
> You might not like it; you might not aprove of it but you
> can allways go to rpmfind.net and get an  mpg123 rpm
> or build your own binaries from source.
> 
> You  may object to the removal of lilo in the next release of Redhat but obviously
> grub has proven stable enough through the 7.x releases of
> Redhat.
> Grub understands file systems;  it can handle kernle images moving
> and it can decompress on the fly. Lilo can not do any of this;
> encoding the  kernel location ina block list format t hat gets trashed if  you
> move any image around.
> I would say with all the rh testing; we will see grub 1.0 sooner rather
> than later.
> 
> Regards, Kerry.