Re: RealPlayer audio streams

[Benjamin Cama <benoar@free.fr>]

Hi,

I don't want to sound too pedantic, bit I'd like to precise some
things :

Le mardi 27 janvier 2009 à 14:28 +0930, Mike Hore a écrit :
> Anyway, kplayer is happily handling real streams, MP3 and WMP with no 
> problem. Hey, I'm not a purist, I just like to get the job done, any way 
> that works   :-)

It's not about being a "purist", it's just about not breaking the law.
By using this software, you put yourself in an illegal position in your
country, and I don't know why some people find it exciting to break the
law (a famous example in our computer world being by using software
they've obtained illegally), but that's not my case.

I am fortunate enough to live in a country (France) where software
patents are not recognized "valid" (well, appart from the schizophrenia
of the European Patent Office accepting software patent applications
although they're not valid according to the law), but I don't like the
way some people want any work of thought to be patented in a lot of
countries. Maybe Europe is coming next.

Debian and a lot of FOSS projects/people don't like it too but try to
play fair and show the people that in some country their work may be
illegal. They show that some stupid law make them and their users be at
risk of some legal action.

I am not telling you not to use these software, on the contrary ! I
think that you're just being reminded, by using this repository, that
your act is condemned in some place like yours, because of these laws.
And I think you should care, so that you can better fight these rules
that hinders you from lawfully using some of the free-software that come
"with" Debian.

Regards,
benjamin