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Codec Buddy in Fedora 8Codec Buddy in Fedora 8Posted Nov 3, 2007 17:03 UTC (Sat) by proski (subscriber, #104)In reply to: Codec Buddy in Fedora 8 by k8to Parent article: Codec Buddy in Fedora 8 OK, "better" includes "first to come". Suppose the software patents didn't exist. When would a first mp3-quality codec appear? Maybe a year later (just guessing). So, the early adopters would not have a good sound encoder for one year. But, chances are the emerging format would be better supported by the software. Chances are the whole number of incompatible codecs (think wma, aac, ogg) would not exist. Chances are that free software would have good support for all major codes out-of-the-box. And those trying to improve sound encoding would not try to avoid the ideas found in the existing popular codecs, thus making it easier to make a significant improvement that could succeed commercially. Thus, in the long (5-10 years) term, the public would be better served without software patents, even if the original developers would not be as motivated to come with the initial implementation.
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Codec Buddy in Fedora 8 Posted Nov 4, 2007 21:49 UTC (Sun) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] Your example is not valid, but just because the MP3 innovation did happen without software patents. In fact the codec was invented on this side of the Atlantic. Revenue has come largely from hardware implementations (which can be patented), I believe. I don't see great innovation coming from Fraunhofer nowadays, as a result of all that money, or from other licensors.
Codec Buddy in Fedora 8 Posted Nov 4, 2007 23:52 UTC (Sun) by job (subscriber, #670) [Link] Well, patents or no patents juridically, lots of things surrounding the MP3 encoding algorithm was somehow patented anyway even in Europe. So it's not a clear cut case of innovation "without software patents". That said, I personally firmly believe the world would be much better off without them. The number one problem right now is the lack of standards, everywhere in the IT sector. And patents are what slows them and encourages competing standards. Even if we would have had to wait an extra year for compressed music to appear, it would have been _so_ worth it.
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