Fedora's way forward

[David Cantrell]

Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> David Cantrell <dcantrell at redhat.com>:
> > IANAL, but I see the one time royalty fee as something that wouldn't
> > work for a project like lame or any other MP3 software project.  The fee
> > isn't even stated, they just give a range of $50K to $60K USD.  And it's
> > listed for PC software applications.  What does that mean?  Use their
> > software/library/sdk?  Could the project continue to release MP3
> > decoding and encoding code?  Does it mean link in an object file that
> > Fraunhoffer provides?  What happens if lame is incorporated in to a
> > Fedora-derived distribution that then runs on the iPod?
> > 
> > Dangerous grounds.
> 
> Maybe.  But suppose we actually asked these questions rather than simply
> speculating? 

Because the software would still be in opposition to the goals of the
Fedora Project.  MP3 support isn't just on the ForbiddenItems list to
annoy people.  Like many others have stated, the project aims to produce
a free and open source Linux distribution that is redistributable by
all.  Having a paid-up royalty for a proprietary technology just so we
can include it in the distribution defeats the main goal.

-- 
David Cantrell
Red Hat / Westford, MA