[volunteers] If VLC can ship a free DVD player, why can't Microsoft? | ZDNet

[Mehma Sarja]

On 5/5/12 2:24 PM, Jesse Monroy wrote:
>
> More that license mess.
>
> http://m.zdnet.com/blog/bott/if-vlc-can-ship-a-free-dvd-player-why-cant-microsoft/4962
>
>
Read this article and it explains that VLC can circumvent paying license 
royalties because they are French, non-profit and France does not 
recognize something or the other. And Microsoft has helped fund the VLC 
project. However, a commercial product sold here cannot do that.

Developers who want to make money from royalties are not the issue, 
everyone agrees. OSS licenses come in many flavors and their projects 
have differing agendas. If VLC can be MS funded, who's to say where 
their allegiance and future lies? Do we care? Should we care? What does 
a OSS license mean if it can be in bed with copyright stuff?

And another thing is obvious, I know very little about this subject. I 
am inferring that others are in the same haze from the recent post-wars.

-- 
Yudhvir
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