joeb wrote:
I to amaze that BLAG listed at the Free Software Foundation (i found it by the link) when a lot of not open source software included the distribution.
No, blag is all free (and "open-source") software. There is support for mp3, which is a non-free codec. But there is no non-free software in the distro. For example, lame converts wav files to mp3. While mp3 is a patented codec, lame itself is totally free software. The source code is available for anybody to look at and change.
On that subject, here's a quote from Richard Stallman:
rms wrote:
The term "patented software" is confusing since it presumes a patent
that is specifically about the particular program in question. There
are no such patents; that is not how software patents work. The issue
is about programs that appear to implement ideas that are covered by
patents.
That category includes nearly all large programs -- that is what makes
software patents such a harmful system. To pick one example, the
kernel Linux, Dan Ravicher found that it implemented 283 US patents.
We think there is nothing wrong with distributing free software that
implements patented ideas, as long as the patent holders don't stop
you.
from:
http://beranger.org/index.php?fullarticle=2047
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