[GRLUG] Adobe, RealNetworks back Linux on MIDs

[Topher]

> Didn't Realnetworks release the helix player as OSS?


Yes, but not their streaming protocols, which makes it Just Another 
Player, and not nearly as cool as many many other players out there.

>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 9:08 AM, John Harig <radiodurans at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Presentations?  Maybe we could have a debate about the
>> benefits of closed sourced software supporting linux?
>> ;)
>>
>> I don't see anything inherently bad in it. At least it
>> shows interest in linux and helps to make linux
>> products more competitive in the market as well as
>> generating more corporate interest.
>>
>> As long as consumers can choose which programs to
>> install and uninstall, closed and open source should
>> be able to  co-exist (as long as you know the security
>> risks and bug risks).  The problem comes if you "have"
>> to run it and have no other alternative.
>>
>> Yes, Adobe Flash is by no means perfect and it allowed
>> hackers to win the Pwn to Own challenge:
>>
>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20080331/bs_nf/59043
>>
>> I am told that Ubuntu was just as vulnerable by people
>> who say they know a lot about security. But Microsoft,
>> for one reason or another, is a popular target for
>> hackers ;).
>>
>> The ideal end of any project is to become "open
>> source" (and many if not most projects should start
>> that way from the beginning), closed source isn't
>> necessarily a bad thing for development:
>>
>> http://discovermagazine.com/2007/dec/long-live-closed-source-software/
>>
>> I think specifically using Adobe Flash as a negative
>> is a bit unfair since Flash is a relatively recent
>> acquisition of Adobe (they have had only one major
>> boxed release of it I think?).
>>
>> Most of the people who work at Adobe are all about
>> open source, but they feel they need to develop things
>> more at their company and of course "the suits" need
>> to make money.  The main reason given why they never
>> wrote Photoshop for Linux is that they never felt they
>> could make money off of it, which may be one reason
>> why they are going with the web Photoshop project.
>>
>> I think a better Adobe counterexample is pdf, which
>> they developed and has been a format used for almost
>> forever in the linux community, and Adobe has turned
>> it over to make an ISO standard.
>> http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS7542722606.html
>>
>> Even before it was submitted to be an ISO standard
>> there were a great deal of 3rd party apps that you
>> could use for pdfs:
>>
>>
>> http://www.cogniview.com/convert-pdf-to-excel/post/pdf-editing-creation-50-open-sourcefree-alternatives-to-adobe-acrobat/
>>
>> As for RealMedia . . . yeah . . . at least it is a
>> voice of support for linux, albeit one I don't really
>> care for.  They don't offer anything usefully
>> innovative but always becomes a default standard
>> because they have been around for awhile. When it
>> started out it was pretty cool (for a closed-source
>> product) but then it started getting bloated with ads
>> and killed itself.  I would definitely be happier with
>> a xiph.org alternative codec (theora).
>>
>> Even if RealMedia is an impending failure, at least it
>> promotes more work on linux, and failures can always
>> teach lessons.
>>
>> --- Tim Schmidt <timschmidt at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 2:33 PM, Rich Nagel
>>> <networkman at triton.net> wrote:
>>>> Huh?  Why?  I'd think that backing from Adobe &
>>> RealNetworks would be a GOOD
>>>>  thing. :/
>>>>
>>>>  Please explain.
>>>
>>> Flash and Real's video codec are two of the very few
>>> pieces of closed
>>> source software many people still use regularly.
>>> Seeing them spread
>>> is not a good thing.
>>>
>>> A Good ThingTM would be Adobe contributing
>>> programmer time,
>>> documentation, or money toward Gnash or swfdec to
>>> encourage
>>> interoperability and standards.  I, for one, am not
>>> excited to see
>>> closed, buggy, impossible to fix software spread
>>> onto platforms I have
>>> a chance of using.
>>>
>>> --tim
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>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Tom Warren
> meijer ITS Enterprise Storage
> Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
> tomewarren at gmail.com
>