__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Wednesday 18 April 2007 12:00 \__
> [H]omer <spam@xxxxxxx> espoused:
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>> Microsoft: Never Really Helping Open source
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Microsoft is in news again for being rather unhelpful towards open
>>> | source again, this over their ClearType technology.
>>> `----
>>>
>>>
http://www.sda-india.com/sda_india/psecom,id,22,site_layout,sdaindia,news,16930,p,0.html
>>> http://tinyurl.com/22pm5k
>>>
>>> Just like the case of DRM, the companies gain at the expense of the poor
>>> customer.
>>
>> The infringing bytecode interpreter technology in Freetype2 has been
>> disabled in Fedora and Red Hat builds for a long, long time now. I can't
>> speak for other distros.
>>
>> "Is FreeType 2 Affected by the Patents?
>>
>> The answer is no for any recent build of FreeType 2, since it comes with
>> an ?auto-hinting? module that was specifically designed to completely
>> ignore the TrueType bytecode instructions.
>>
>> However, the source code for the bytecode interpreter is still available
>> and can be toggled on at compile time, for those that want to use it
>> anyway (because they purchased a license from Apple, or because they are
>> in a country where the patents do not apply, etc.). For details please
>> check the documentation that comes with your FreeType source package (it
>> normally involves changing one configuration macro)."
>>
>> - http://www.freetype.org/patents.html
>>
>
> Well, pretty much everywhere outside of the US, Australia and perhaps
> Canada and Mexico (NAFTA?) do not recognise software patents, and
> rightly so, in my view.
>
> This looks like one of those packages which should have a "US-free
> trade" version and a "software patent free" separate binary versions,
> rather like debian used to do for the encryption stuff.
My thoughts exactly. Or bring SuSE back to Europe... or fork the thing.
--
~~ With kind regards
Microsoft: a device for converting public ignorance into cash
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Swap: 1036184k total, 388804k used, 647380k free, 60432k cached
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
|
|
