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FLOSS: Accept no substitutes

Posted by tuxchick on · 4 comments
IT World; By Brian Proffitt
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Free-as-in-freedom software is very often free-as-in-beer, too. This is normally a good thing. But one open source project developer is calling out a troubling problem with free software: counterfeit applications. The problem, according to VideoLAN developer Ludovic Fauvet, is this: VideoLAN's highly regarded VLC Media Player, which is licensed under the GPL, is being redistributed by various organizations' websites, some of which claim that VLC is actually their application to distribute. These websites attract users with paid Google AdWords ads that come up in various media-player related searches.

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Comments (4)

The Sleazy Must Know Something

The fact that they are using FOSS software popularity to grab more attention to their products is a good indication that FOSS software is in fact getting very popular.

This tactic is getting worse as FOSS apps become more popular. Something has to be done about it before it becomes uncontrollable in the future.

Certificate of Authenticity for download would be helpful. Taking such outfits to court might be an idea but too much involved.

If this continues, I am afraid it might become necessary to control FOSS source code and made accessible only by authentication.

Quoting:If this continues, I am afraid it might become necessary to control FOSS source code and made accessible only by authentication.


Actually you don't need the Source Code to package something in a Windows installer... along with a bunch of malware.
Quoting:Actually you don't need the Source Code to package something in a Windows installer... along with a bunch of malware.


No you don't, and I believe you don't need it to create a new deb/rpm package from an existing one either.

The point I was making is how far these sleazy guys could go. There is no guarantee they won't change the source code either if they have or need to.

Changing the VLC engine license to LGPL

Quoting:VLC is a project of the VideoLAN non-profit organization, which supports the development of multiple libre and open source multimedia projects. In contrast to some other open source projects, VideoLAN does not require copyright assignment to the organization; instead the authors keep their copyright.

This change of license was an initiative started by some of VLC's main developers and will be a change from the current license (GPLv2 or later) to the LGPLv2.1 or later license. This change was motivated to match the evolution of the video industry and to spread the VLC engine as a multi-platform open-source multimedia engine and library. The VideoLAN non-profit organisation and the École Centrale Paris approve this initiative.


Quoting:Help us find the remaining missing contributors. If you have resources that can help us, please share these too.

What happens if you can't find all the right contributors? Then, we will not change the license.
http://www.videolan.org/press/lgpl.html

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