VLC - Patent problems :(
April 9th, 2005 by HenWell covered elsewhere, but as I recently discovered just how good VLC is, I thought I’d mention (and link) that it believes it is going to be an early casualty to the new European law on patents - http://www.videolan.org/patents.html.
Both Quicktime on our Apples and Windows Media Player on the Windows box proved to be utterly useless when it came to watching video. So I first tried bsplayer on Windows (very good) and then on the Apples (and subsequently Windows box as it is cross-platform) the VLC player. VLC is a superb example of the open program being light years better than the one that gets bundled with the OS.
So it’s a shame to see that the cash-for-laws program that is so widely practiced in Washington DC, and increasingly sounds like it’s being practiced in Brussels is going to grow into a way for stupid companies to protect their dated ideas.