In terms of media codecs, note that Windows Media player supports many formats where Microsoft doesn't own the IP, such as MPEG2, MPEG4, mp3, etc. I don't think Sun's arrangements with Microsoft allows any other companies to make use of their licenses to distribute plugins to support these formats.
In terms of WindowsMedia formats, this is IP that Microsoft actually owns. I'm not sure if Sun's arrangement with Microsoft allows us to use this IP. I suspect not, and that Sun would need to license this IP to use it, just like any other company. However, perhaps our arrangements with Microsoft will make it easier or more afforadable to license WindowsMedia codecs in the future. I'm not sure. For the time being, you can buy legal and licensed WindowsMedia plugins from fluendo at this URL: https://shop.fluendo.com/ I also hope that in the near future, they will be able to offer MPEG2 and MPEG4 plugins for Solaris. We will have to wait and see how that goes. >> Was the words free ever used? I always thought that >> money would transfer between the companies for the >> use of each others technology. > > It did: 1+ billion United States dollars were paid to Sun Microsystems by > the Microsoft corporation. In return, both parties signed a cross-licensing > agreement. As a side effect, both parties agreed not to further sue each other > for use of those technologies or patent infringements. I suspect that this is in terms of OpenOffice/StarOffice and other desktop technologies, though I don't know for sure. I suspect it doesn't extend to media codecs. But, I guess this is a good question for Sun legal to consider. If our arrangements do allow us to ship media codec support, then we could consider doing so, I'd think. Brian _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
