Legal Threats Against MPlayer, Server To Disappear

[TheBlackCat]

I think the implication is rather obvious.

False dichotomy. You are assuming that any fork that isn't clearly a good move therefore is clearly a bad move. You ignore the third possibility: we just can't tell at this point and with the information available whether the fork was good or bad. That is how I read that paragraph, and in fact it took me a few moments to figure out why people were talking about "bad forks" since it didn't occur to me to read it that way.

[loonyphoenix]

False dichotomy. You are assuming that any fork that isn't clearly a good move therefore is clearly a bad move. You ignore the third possibility: we just can't tell at this point and with the information available whether the fork was good or bad. That is how I read that paragraph, and in fact it took me a few moments to figure out why people were talking about "bad forks" since it didn't occur to me to read it that way.

It gave ME the impression that mplayer2 or libav were somehow blamed for the whole episode, otherwise why mention forks at all?

Of course, knowing Phoronix, one might deduce that those are simply pointless plugs of previous articles... which is confusing. If you're linking something, it has to do with the article in some fashion, IMHO.

[damipereira]

Shouldn't the FSF jump in and protect these guys?, they seem to be threatened, this is very bad for the project.
About the forking, the project might not be healthy, because developers can't really have fun while doing it, because they get menaces from big companies, so the project stalls(a bit at least) and there are some people who DO want to keep going, so they fork.
If no legal thread would happen, and people in there get to talk more, I think those forks wouldn't be needed.
So please FSF jump in and say something.

[kraftman]

Mplayer is very good despite its cmdline style that does not help noobs to discover this good software .
wish him to be back when all get cleared

There's great mplayer front end - SMPlayer.

[marek]

Shouldn't the FSF jump in and protect these guys?, they seem to be threatened, this is very bad for the project.
About the forking, the project might not be healthy, because developers can't really have fun while doing it, because they get menaces from big companies, so the project stalls(a bit at least) and there are some people who DO want to keep going, so they fork.
If no legal thread would happen, and people in there get to talk more, I think those forks wouldn't be needed.
So please FSF jump in and say something.

Do you really think FSF is reading this forum?

[birdie]

FSF members don't ever read fsf bugzilla.

[deanjo]

It gave ME the impression that mplayer2 or libav were somehow blamed for the whole episode, otherwise why mention forks at all?

To point out that there have been many notable forks lately perhaps? Nobody can tell how a fork will pan out after a few weeks. You are a just a "glass half empty" kind of person and read into it something that wasn't said.

[deanjo]

That is how I read that paragraph, and in fact it took me a few moments to figure out why people were talking about "bad forks" since it didn't occur to me to read it that way.

Same thing here.

[ad_267]

I think you meant:

"While legal threats to free software projects would be disastrous to those seeking to encourage Linux and open-source work"

or maybe:

"While legal threats to free software projects would be great for those seeking to destory Linux and open-source work"

[XorEaxEax]

From what I gather, Attila Kinali was one of the main instigators in the libav 'fork' (well, attempted hostile takeover actually) so I can't help but wonder if this mplayer spat is a result of that (seems the projects share a number of developers). There certainly seems to be alot of bad blood in the mplayer/ffmpeg developer pool of late. Of course there are always two sides to this, and one side is never totally right/wrong.

Maybe we will have some light shed on these matters as the dust settles.

As for those taking the higher ground and declaring it a soap opera, these are people just like you and me. We certainly set no higher examples in these forums so why would we expect it from anyone else? And having worked as a programmer for the majority of my working-life I can attest that ego-driven confrontations is nothing out of the ordinary, in my own experience particularly programmers vs management has been a never-ending battle of will's.