[Asterisk-Dev] G.729 licensing, again..

[Daniel Pocock]

>If you want to use the Intel code license it from Intel. Why is stealing
>software okay, but if I took a laptop with software, a laptop is useless
>without the software, but whatever. It is still stealing.
>
>  
>
That's not an appropriate comparison.  If you take a laptop, someone 
else doesn't have a laptop anymore.  So they are the victim, they are 
the one missing out.

However, every time someone buys a license from Digium, the patent 
holder gets $1.50 or something like that from Digium.  I can't see why 
they would care which code you are running after you pay your money, 
they are still getting their $1.50, so they are not the victim.  The 
other $8.50 is a bonus for Digium, because they don't even have to 
provide support if you use the Intel code, so they are not the victim 
either.  So who is the victim, who is missing out and what are they missing?

Of course, if you don't pay anyone for the license, then that might be 
in breach of your country's patent laws.

However, having an open source implementation of G.729 can only be a 
good thing for Asterisk, as it let's people do benchmarking and 
compatibility testing on a large scale without having to pay for 
licenses they are not using - such activities don't necessarily require 
licensing until you start selling a product. 

It's also quite convenient for people who are happy to pay their money 
but don't want the hassle of an awkward copy-protection system, such as 
what Digium has implemented.

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