Re: Re: Linux video editing patents

Hi Bob,

>> We don't want to have to tell people 'after 
>> installation, Google for the location of this bit of source code and 
>> build your own binary' - it's just not practical for a lot of users.
> 
> That is why your software offers to do this automatically.  It works for 
> FreeBSD Ports, Gentoo, Fink, and Debian, so there is no reason to not 
> use one of those existing systems to make it really easy.

That can work-around the GPL problem, but it would still leave us with 
the patent lawyer problem.

> I recall that Gentoo makes this easy. I assume that 
> Debian does as well.

Debian's approach is to provide the binaries, take out no patent 
licences at all, and wait for the lawyer's letter - at which point it 
will remove the binary in question. That's not feasible for a business 
of course, not just because it would leave the users with missing 
functionality, but because patent holders can sue for past damages.

Cheers!

Daniel


-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files
for problems?  Stop!  Download the new AJAX search engine that makes
searching your log files as easy as surfing the  web.  DOWNLOAD SPLUNK!
http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7637&alloc_id=16865&op=click