-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Open-announce] Great news for Linux Audio and Video Users and
Developers
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 10:39:04 -0700
From: Kevin Foreman <kevinf [ at ] real [ dot ] com>
To: open-announce [ at ] lists [ dot ] helixcommunity [ dot ] org
I wanted to personally let you know of a milestone announcement that
happened this week the will dramatically improve the landscape for
digital audio and video on Linux. Here are the two press releases: _Red
Hat_ agreement and _Novell_ agreement. Below is a Q&A that should answer
most questions.
*Q: What was announced?*
A: On June 28, the Linux desktop industry leaders, Red Hat and Novell
announced with Real a deep product development and distribution
agreement that will enhance the rapidly maturing Linux desktop
experience. Specifically, Red Hat and Novell will standardize on the
100% open source Helix Player as the leading multimedia framework for
their Linux desktops, and will help qualify and distribute the superset
RealPlayer 10 with their upcoming Linux desktop offerings. As part of
the announcements, within 30 days, Real will add the GPL as a licensing
option the underlying Helix Player and Helix DNA Client.
*Q: For whom is this announcement important?*
A: Two audiences:
1) Enterprises and organizations that are looking for a complete, secure
and highly affordable enterprise desktop solution, now will have access
to the web’s best audio and video via RealPlayer 10 for Linux and
2) Applications developers who are looking for a standardized
GPL-licensed AV framework - Helix Player and its underlying media
engine, Helix DNA Client
*Q: When will the Helix Player and RealPlayer 10 for Linux be available?*
A: Both the RealPlayer 10 and its underlying open source framework,
Helix Player, are _beta today_ and will be “Gold” or final this summer
*Q: What’s the difference between the Helix Player and the RealPlayer?
*A: The Helix Player is the completely open source media player that is
developed within the Helix Community. The RealPlayer adds to the Helix
Player the non-open source components such as RealAudio/RealVideo, MP3
and Flash.
*Q: Are these agreements exclusive?*
A: No, however Red Hat and Novell, join Sun Microsystems, Turbolinux and
Real working to ensure that the open source community standardizes on
the Helix Player as the base framework for other AV-based applications
and the RealPlayer is the default streaming media player with the Linux
Desktop.
*Q: Why did Red Hat and Novell choose to bundle RealPlayer over other
Linux-based media players?
*A: Several factors but predominately that Real created and leads the
streaming media market and Real’s increasing investments in Linux, open
source and standards
*Q: What content can the RealPlayer play back?*
A: The RealPlayer for Linux will let users enjoy the most varied and
popular business, educational and entertainment content on the Internet.
Specifically, it plays RealAudio, RealVideo, MP3, Flash, and Ogg
Vorbis/Theora just to name a few of the formats and codecs it supports.
*Q: How much does RealPlayer 10 for Linux cost?*
A: RealPlayer 10 for Linux is free.
*Q: Does Real have an open source license for the RealPlayer?*
A: No. The RealPlayer is free for personal use but is not available in
source code. The underlying _Helix Player project_ is available as open
source.
Kevin
---------------------------------
Kevin Foreman
General Manager, Helix
*Real**Networks, Inc.
*E-mail: kevinf [ at ] real [ dot ] com
_http://www.helixcommunity.org <http://www.helixcommunity.org/>
_*
*
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