What is Helix doing that is attractive to the Free Software community?
Richard Stallman wrote:
> I guess so...but are we really able to do anything with it that
> we can't do without it?
I can't see any program Helix is working on that is unique and attractive
for the Free Software community.
We can play Ogg Vorbis data with Free Software. We will probably continue
to be able to play Ogg Theora data (video) with Free Software. I'm guessing
any other Ogg codec will be implemented as Free Software. The Ogg FLAC
codec, for instance, is also Free Software.
I want to see more Free Software developers and more Free Software, so I
will welcome Helix distributing software licensed under a Free Software
license. It would be even better if their next license were GPL-compatible.
But unless they are prepared to distribute something valuable (like a
RealVideo/RealAudio codec) under a Free Software license, I don't see what
they have to offer that is so attractive.
> And isn't it USUALLY used with non-free codecs?
As I understand it, yes. RealVideo and RealAudio are the main attraction
and they are both non-free codecs.
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