[MPlayer-DOCS] CVS: homepage/src news.src.en,1.81,1.82
Dominik Mierzejewski CVS
rathann at mplayerhq.hu
Sun Jan 11 23:37:10 CET 2004
Update of /cvsroot/mplayer/homepage/src
In directory mail:/scsi/2/tmp/cvs-serv29341
Modified Files:
news.src.en
Log Message:
Spellchecking and grammar corrections. Double-checked.
Index: news.src.en
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/mplayer/homepage/src/news.src.en,v
retrieving revision 1.81
retrieving revision 1.82
diff -u -r1.81 -r1.82
--- news.src.en 11 Jan 2004 20:48:58 -0000 1.81
+++ news.src.en 11 Jan 2004 22:37:07 -0000 1.82
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
<li><a href="http://mplayerhq.hu/~gabucino/mp-kiss-gabu.rm">downloadable file</a></li>
</ul>
A written article is <a href="http://www.dr.dk/videnskab/harddisken/artikler/2004/kiss-vs-mplayer.asp">also available</a>,
- in danish language.<br>
+ in Danish.<br>
<br>
We have made a rough english translation of the session (thanks to
Anders Rune Jensen). <u>Our commentaries can be found at the bottom</u>.<br>
@@ -33,72 +33,72 @@
Hungarian programmers 3 years ago.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> We needed a program that could play media files under Linux
-and was so unsatisfied with the existing choices that we started doing
-a better alternative - the spokes person for the <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a>
-programmers Gabucino told.<br>
+and were so unsatisfied with the existing choices that we started making
+a better alternative - said Gabucino, the spokesperson for the
+<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> programmers.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> has reached a wide recognition in the Open Source
-community. Gabucino emphasizes the programs stability and ability to
+community. Gabucino emphasizes the program's stability and ability to
play many different movie formats as some of the obvious advantages.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> The trouble with <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss technology</a> started recently when one of
the MPlayer developers was shopping for a new DVD player
and went for a product by the Danish company. For fun the programmer
started looking at the software in the Danish DVD player, the so
-called firmware, and compared it with MPlayers own code. There were
-enough similarities that the case got a closer look and to make the
-<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> team angry - Gabucino told.<br>
-<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> The concrete part of the code the the similarities is found
-in is the one controlling the subtitles when playing movies.
-Reality is that the code doesn't contain anything really brilliant, on
-the contrary it's very simple. So Gabucino is puzzled why anyone would
+called firmware, and compared it with MPlayer's own code. There were
+enough similarities to take a closer look at the case and make the
+<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> team angry - Gabucino said.<br>
+<br>
+<b>Speaker:</b> The specific part of the code in which the similarities are found
+is the one controlling the subtitles when playing movies.
+The reality is that the code doesn't contain anything really brilliant. On
+the contrary, it's very simple. So Gabucino is puzzled why anyone would
even bother using the code instead of writing it themselves. He
-suggests that it could be laziness from the programmers side.<br>
+suggests that it could be laziness on the programmer's side.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> I think it's actually a very normal thing that programmers
-borrow Open Source code because they are to lazy to write it
-themselves. There has been some cases prior to this one which has
-created quite a lot of trouble. I think there are hundreds of
-examples like this one that we just don't hear about - Gabucino told.<br>
+borrow Open Source code because they are too lazy to write it
+themselves. There have been some cases prior to this which have
+caused quite a lot of trouble. I think there are hundreds of
+examples like this that we just don't hear about - Gabucino said.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> The <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> team has published the accusation of the code
theft on their website and has tried to document it by listing the
strings in the code which are identical in the two pieces of software.
-According to Gabucino there is so many similarities that it's
+According to Gabucino, there are so many similarities that it's
unthinkable that this might be a coincidence.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> Normally this type of code is different depending on who
-implemented it, so when there are so many identical strings it's
-obvious that we're dealing with theft the Hungarians believe.<br>
+implemented it, so, when there are so many identical strings, it's
+obvious that we're dealing with theft, the Hungarians believe.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> GPL or General Public License which <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> is licensed under
is a very widely used Open Source license, which gives the users
-certain rights and certain duties. Long story short it is okay to take
-the code from <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> and develop it further as long as the result is
-given back to the community. In the concrete example Gabucino and the
-other Hungarians therefore demands that <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a> should release
-the software used in it's DVD players. And makes it clear that it is
+certain rights and certain duties. Long story short, it is okay to take
+the code from <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> and develop it further, as long as the result is
+given back to the community. In this specific example Gabucino and the
+other Hungarians therefore demand that <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a> should release
+the software used in its DVD players. And makes it clear that it is
not a matter of getting some money from the Danish company, but a
matter of fulfilling the requirements of the GPL and releasing the
software.<br>
<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a> at first didn't react to the Hungarians
-inquiry but after the story began to get large publicity in the
-different net-medias and forums the company this week began to
-investigate the case. There are two main questions, one being whether
-code from <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> really is inside the Kiss software and the other
-question being how the licenses of Open Source software should be
-interpreted and administered. Other than being accused of taking code
+<b>Speaker:</b> <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a> at first didn't react to the Hungarians'
+inquiry, but after the story began to get large publicity in the
+different net-medias and forums the company began to investigate
+the case this week. There are two main questions: whether
+code from <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> really is inside the Kiss software and
+how the licenses of Open Source software should be
+interpreted and applied. Apart from being accused of taking code
from <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a>, <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss Technology</a> has also been accused of using other
-Open Source software but managing director Peter Wilmar Christensen
+Open Source software, but managing director Peter Wilmar Christensen
denies all accusations with small requisitions. The DVD player from
-<a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss</a> uses a modified version of Linux as it's operating system and
+<a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss</a> uses a modified version of Linux as its operating system and
that part of the software has been released in accordance with the
licenses. But <a href="http://www.kiss-technology.com">Kiss</a> proclaims that the programs used in the machines on
top of the operating system, which enables them to play video and
-music files is the companies own and therefore is not required to be
-released the managing director Peter Christensen explains.<br>
+music files are the company's own and therefore are not required to be
+released, the managing director Peter Christensen explains.<br>
<br>
<b>Peter:</b> I would say that the is no truth to the accusations. In large
there has been some interest regarding our applications recently and
@@ -126,73 +126,73 @@
not investigated it enough to be sure whether or not they are right or
wrong in their accusations. What is important is that we do not use
their application (<i>Of course, only the subtitle reader! - Gabucino</i>). Should there be cases where the code is very much
-alike, we have to look at how that can have happened. But we doubt
+alike, we have to look at how that could have happened. But we doubt
that there is any truth to the accusations. There are a lot of things
that could have happened, one could imagine that code from our
community has spread to other communities included the Open Source and
code originating from our player could accordingly be a part of
-<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a>, if in fact there is is any similarities. It can be hard to
-tell how eventual similarities have started. What is important is that
+<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a>, if in fact there are any similarities. It can be hard to
+tell how those similarities have supposedly appeared. What is important is that
we do not use their application. If there are a few identical lines
-then one might ask them self how that has happened. But it could just
-as easy come from one way than the other. We are in any case in no
+then one might ask themselves how that has happened. But it could have just
+as well come from one side as from the other. In any case, we are under no
circumstances of the opinion that we have borrowed code.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> Whoever made the code for subtitles in the Hungarian software
and in the Danish DVD players can be thought of as a minor issue in
-the todays world. But what is important is the principle questions in
-the concrete issue and what private companies can allow themselves
+today's world. But what is important is the matter of principles in
+this specific issue and what private companies can allow themselves
when they use Open Source and on the other hand what the Open Source
-community can expect from the companies. Managing director Peter
-Wilmar Christensen has because of the current case had a closer look
-at the GPL license and its legal status evaluated.<br>
+community can expect from the companies. Because of the current case,
+managing director Peter Wilmar Christensen has had a closer look
+at the GPL license and evaluated its legal status.<br>
<br>
<b>Peter:</b> We have confirmed what we already knew, that when using code
-licensed under the GPL then we have to publish any derivatived work.
+licensed under the GPL then we have to publish any derivative work.
This means that the legal foundation is very thin and there is no
place in the world that I know of where the GPL has been tested in
court. So from a business perspective I would say that the license is
relatively weak. This doesn't change the fundamental spirit in the
-Open Source community which I think when all comes to all is positive.
-But it is clear that as a commercial company living of selling it's
-product, can or will not release our proprietary code. It is naturally
+Open Source community which I think - all in all - is positive.
+But it is clear that as a commercial company living off selling its
+product, can not and will not release its proprietary code. It is naturally
so that one should not use GPL code in proprietary systems.<br>
<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> The Hungarian software developers of <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> is according to
-spokes person Gabucino glad that their accusation against the Danish
-company has reached the media. <br>
+<b>Speaker:</b>According to Gabucino, the Hungarian software
+developers of <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a> are glad that
+their accusation against the Danish company has reached the media. <br>
<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> As he told, there is not the big economical options for
+<b>Speaker:</b> As he said, there are no big economical options for
dragging the case to court. Instead they hope that the Open Source
-community will put a so large pressure on Kiss Techonology that they
-will be forced to released all its software.<br>
+community will put so much pressure on Kiss Techonology that they
+will be forced to release all its software.<br>
<br>
-<b>Speaker:</b> But that completely out of the question told managing
+<b>Speaker:</b> But that completely out of the question, said the managing
director Peter Wilmar Christensen, even though he is very keen on
staying good friends with the Open Source community.<br>
<br>
<b>Peter:</b> We don't have any intentions of working against or in another
way make enemies with the people in this community. We try to tell
what we use and what guidelines we follow. Have we made any error,
-such as making the correct descriptions in our manuals then we will of
-course fix those things. It not so that we in any way want
-confrontation, but we have to make the clear statement that our
+such as making incorrect descriptions in our manuals then we will of
+course fix those things. It is not so that we in any way want
+confrontation, but we have to make a clear statement that our
software will not be released as Open Source.<br>
<br>
<b>Speaker:</b> What is your conclusion of this case, what will it be after
this?<br>
<br>
-<b>Peter:</b> The conclusion will be that the licenses in this area is a good
-description of how one ought to operate when in this community. It's
+<b>Peter:</b> The conclusion will be that the licenses in this area are a good
+description of how one ought to operate within this community. They're
more of a tool to describe how to operate than a set of rules that can
be used in court. And I think that the Open Source circles uses far
too much energy on hunting down private companies like us for
instance, because it's so obvious that one as a private company simply
can't release your source code. We appreciate the Linux community very
much and see it as a good thing for the industry. Generally that there
-is an alternative to the Microsoft community. But we think the the
-community should respect the companies who use Linux and to not hunt
-them because I don't think that beneficial for anyone.<br>
+is an alternative to the Microsoft community. But we think that the
+community should respect the companies who use Linux and not hunt
+them because I don't think that's beneficial for anyone.<br>
<br>
<i>END OF TRANSLATION</i><br>
<br>
@@ -204,13 +204,13 @@
that could have happened, one could imagine that code from our
community has spread to other communities included the Open Source and
code originating from our player could accordingly be a part of
- <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a>, if in fact there is is any similarities. It can be hard to
- tell how eventual similarities have started. What is important is that
+ <a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu">MPlayer</a>, if in fact there are any similarities. It can be hard to
+ tell how those similarities have supposedly started. What is important is that
we do not use their application. If there are a few identical lines
- then one might ask them self how that has happened.</i><br>
+ then one might ask themselves how that has happened.</i><br>
<br>
It's quite clear that they've never read our News section, because we
- hurried to state they've even stole <b><i>our own</i></b> subtitle
+ hurried to state they've even stolen <b><i>our own</i></b> subtitle
file format MPsub (<a href="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/subosd.html#mpsub">see our
specifications</a>).<br>
<br>
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@
some sentences, like
<i>"...We don't have any intentions of working against, or in
another way make enemies with the people in this (Open
- Source) community.</i></li>
+ Source) community."</i></li>
</ol>
Actually we can picture a quite nice representation of their viewpoint,
especially after seeing their unwillingness to start a conversation
@@ -246,12 +246,12 @@
their own lies, emphasized again and again: <i>"What is
important is that we do not use their application."</i></li>
<li>Spreading <b>FUD</b>: <i>"It can be hard to tell how
- eventual similarities have started."</i> Ever heard of
+ those similarities have supposedly started."</i> Ever heard of
version control systems?</li>
<li>Holding good communiqe with the Open Source community:
<i>"If there are a few identical lines then one might ask
- them self how that has happened. But it could just as easy
- come from one way than the other."</i> The pitiful aspect of
+ themselves how that has happened. But it could have just as well
+ come from one side as from the other..."</i> The pitful aspect of
this is that it implies a totally ignorant viewpoint, like
'our sources are ours, it's completely obfuscated, but yes,
our claims are the truth, yours are plain lies'</li>
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