__/ [John Bailo] on Wednesday 01 February 2006 22:25 \__
> Novell demonstrates its Linux Desktop 10 in Paris
>
> Peter Sayer, IDG News Service
>
> 02/02/2006 08:48:54
>
>
> "For the average home user, existing Linux distributions suffer from one
> major flaw: they can't play MP3-format music files out of the box. This
> is because the MP3 encoding system is patented, and the system for
> licensing the patent is incompatible with the GPL open source license
> under which Linux is distributed, Friedman said.
>
> To get around that, Novell has developed its own MP3 player software,
> Banshee, for which it has licensed the patents. The software will be
> available under an open-source license, but not the GPL, he said. To
> demonstrate Banshee, he connected an iPod nano music player to the USB
> (Universal Serial Bus) port of his laptop. Immediately, the software
> recognized the device, adding the music it contained to the playlist and
> allowing him to play one of the tracks.
>
> "Now we have a legal way to do this for free that's open source," he said.
> "
This makes reality sound grimmer than it truly is. Going to YaSY and clicking
through the multimedia pack/s (or getting the RPM on-line) was never a pain.
If the box is intended for entertainment purposes, then install the required
packages. Computers are not fundamentally about E-mail, Web browsing,
gaming, and music (or other rich media). I guess that being "/Desktop/ 10",
you cannot argue with people's preferences and habits, which are most likely
to change over time.
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