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Filed under: Audio, Video, Linux, Microsoft, Open Source

Real to release open source Windows Media software for Linux

Linuxby Jordan Running Aug 16th 2006

RealAt the ongoing LinuxWorld conference, RealNetworks announced that it will be releasing open source software that will allow Linux user to listen to and view audio and video files encoded in Microsoft's proprietary Windows Media formats. Currently Linux users are able to view Windows Media files only through closed-source components, but a deal Real inked with Microsoft after last year's anti-trust settlement paved the way for the announced open source solution, which will be released through Real's Helix Community. Novell joined RealNetworks to announce that it would be bundling the new software with Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, to be released later this year. Real is also planning to bring its Rhapsody music store to Linux, and will possibly be supporting the AAC audio compression format used by Apple.

Tags: audio, linux, microsoft, novell, real, realaudio, realnetworks, suse, video, windowsmedia

Filed under: Audio, Business, Internet, Utilities, Web services, Google, Mozilla

Google and Mozilla have another distribution partner

by Chris Gilmer Aug 2nd 2006

google firefox real playerGoogle and Mozilla know how to push their software out to the masses. People love their software, and do pretty much anything to get it out there, either through word of mouth, or through distribution deals with the likes of Dell and other major players in the technology industry.

Google and Mozilla have teamed with RealNetworks to distribute their popular software even further. For the past few years Google has already had a partnership with Real for software distribution. Now another multi-year deal was recently struck between the three companies, giving users the option of downloading and installing Firefox, and the Google Toolbar when they are downloading RealPlayer. Hooray for Google and Mozilla! More exposure for these killer applications.

Tags: audio, distribution, download, google, google news, google toolbar, GoogleNews, GoogleToolbar, mozilla, music player, MusicPlayer, real, real player, realnetworks, RealPlayer

Filed under: Business, Developer, Video, News, Web services

RealNetworks awarded patent victory

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Apr 24th 2006

In a hard-fought battle, RealNetworks appears to have won a major patent victory to protect their technology. This is a patent that already faced a struggle with the Patent Office itself, just to get filed in 1999 (and it took 5 years to do that). But it now looks like the "streaming through a congested network" magic is owned by RealNetworks... Despite a previous patent by Apple for the same thing used in QuickTime. Personally, I always thought Real had better streaming, QuickTime had better downloadable quality. The billion-dollar question: who cares? Will this really affect Real's bottom line? Rob Glaser (CEO of Real) has essentially said he's not going to go after the "big hair porcupines" in the industry using the technology. Hm, that would probably be Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe. Who does that leave, YouTube? Developers aren't rolling their own codecs, for the most part, these days. During the go-go 90's I saw all sorts of wacky streaming implementations, but you don't hear a lot about this now that broadband keeps growing. You do hear about different protocols (like Bittorrent) for moving data, but streaming tech this old doesn't get headlines. Yet that appears to be what Glaser is hoping for, as in the New York Times he's quoted as saying, "We're hoping that people will say, 'Oh, I get it,' and that this will boost the identity of Helix." Well Rob, one can dream, eh? This sounds a little like those patent-to-profitability games dying tech companies play. They're bleeding money after innovating, so they sue everyone on old patents to make some cash. Sounds like Real doesn't want to play that game, but will they have to?

Tags: intellectual property, IntellectualProperty, legal, nyt, patent, real, realnetworks, rob glaser, RobGlaser, streaming

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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