One more topic on 321Studios activities

[0 kewl]

Just read a topic about 321Studios latest software due to come out on 28th October, but couldn't post an opinion since it was already locked (rightly so). Just wanted to inform you of another thread existing at Afterdawn.com ( http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/8552 )where i found some interesting explanations and defense by the president of 321 Studios. I would recommend reading through the whole thread if time allows as it gives a lot of info on current freeware legislation and what they (321 Studios) think about it. I posted a link there to a topic at VCDHelp.com: http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=88142 and got a reply from the president of 321Studios which is quite interesting (especially remarks that it is not a problem to sell freeware since creators can't be contacted). My post is currently 18 from the bottom and i just posted another one (which should be at the very bottom) providing a link to the latest topic here: http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=116313

Just wanted to know if anyone's interested in posting comments in Afterdawn.com thread since it is so much in 321Studios favour over there. Thought guys like Snowmoon, Thorn, Adam and Vitualis would have more informed opinion than i do and therefore provide a tougher oposition to 321Studios.

Once again, here's their thread http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/8552

[vitualis]

I'm not going to waste my time with creating an account over there to replay to a thread, but that is the biggest load of BS I have ever read.

He is using the classic language of a scam artist and I hope that you can see through that. Betas that are due and then don't eventuate. We don't use DeCSS but a "proprietary" method that is patentable, "screenshots" that don't show anything useful... etc.

Most DVDs are protected by CSS encryption and as such you cannot make a bit for bit copy. Even if you did, home burners cannot burn to that special part of a DVD that includes the keys so your disc would be unusable.

As such, you MUST decrypt the video -- and for a commercial purpose, this is definitely illegal without being issued a license. You may be able to argue through "fair use" policies that home copying may be okay, but for a commercial program, they will definitely have to apply for a license (e.g., as do a software DVD players). Somehow I doubt very much this has been done.

Furthermore, the argument through "proposed legislation" is a joke. Legislation that is "proposed" is obviously not law.

Although they claim to be using completely proprietary software, I somehow doubt this very much since the "president" seems to trip over himself trying justify previous inclusion of free software. For example, he claimed that the author of VCDEasy had given permission (but later turned out not to have). I think this is an obvious fallacy. Why would anyone impersonate delphi.stuff over this regard? Furthermore, if you were really trying to create a commercial program that packages a number of freeware tools (in itself may be fine) would you not directly go to the author? The author of VCDEasy is after all far from obscure.

The packaging of freeware utilities together and marketing it is in itself not illegal as long as ALL the licenses of the included tools (which imply someone elses work) are respected. Usually, the licenses will follow something like VCDEasy's (which is freeware, not open source): http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?name=_License

Specifically:

Redistribution and use in binary forms are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce this license file unchanged in the documentation and other materials provided with the distribution.
• The original distribution files must not be renamed or modified.
• All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement in a location viewable by users: "This product includes VCDEasy, freeware developed by delphi.stuff", or in the case VCDEasy in not included: "VCDEasy, freeware developed by delphi.stuff".
• Neither the name "VCDEasy" nor "delphi.stuff" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from, using or distributing this "product" without specific prior written permission.
• For any web distribution a link to 'http://www.vcdeasy.org/' must be added.
• You must not charge for the "product" itself, VCDEasy is freeware.
• Commercial distributions of the "product" (via magazines, commercial software packages,...) are strictly forbidden without specific prior written permission, if the price of the distribution (magazine, package,...) is more than US$10 or 10Euros

It seems obvious to me that not all of the above conditions have been met.

The fact that freeware authors may not be contactable is highly irrelevant. The license would stand. If there is a clause in the license that makes distribution impossible and the author is not contactable, then the said program simply cannot be distributed.

Furthermore, the use of the concept of "copyleft" is another tricky device used. Freeware are in no way published with the "copyleft" concept unless specifically stated.

Specifically, freeware is quite different from free software under GPL, which is in turn quite different from material that is released to the public domain.

For anyone interested in this program, do NOT pay for it until it undergoes scrutiny in the light of day. That is, don't believe beta reports (as they well be fabricated) and wait for a full analysis when the final release comes out (if it does at all). In the mean time, be aware that the functionality of that program already exists as freeware tools.

Regards.

[0 kewl]

Thank you very much for taking your time to read that thread and your well thought and informed feedback Vitualis - it was just what i was hoping for. I did take time to create an account over there and your comments on this will be posted over there as soon as you approve it. I, somehow, do want to make sure companies like 321Studios get what they deserve.