On Fri, 28 Mar 2003, Matthew Miller wrote: >> What, exactly, would they have licensed? The GPL forbids distribution >> of software that would place encumberances upon the recipients, which >> Thompson's patents do. All common mp3 software is available only under >> the GPL. > >It might be possible with enough money to get a license for any/all GPLed >software. This would result in a situation like that of QT -- if you want to >make proprietary software, you'd still have to buy your own license. This is >maybe improbable now, but as the technology gets older, it could happen.
Sure, it is likely possible for _someone_ to persue such a license grant. Nobody is likely to do it until there is a business case for it that would have a direct perceived return on investment from doing so. With ogg being a superior technology from a technical as well as ideological perspective, and considering what the predominant use of MP3 technology really is, I would find it very difficult to come up with a business case for this. -- Mike A. Harris ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris OS Systems Engineer - XFree86 maintainer - Red Hat -- Phoebe-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/phoebe-list
