Is Aud-X dead?

[Sharktooth]

I was checking the Aud-X website for some news and i saw the latest news are quite old and their forums do not work...
What's happening?

[squid_80]

With any luck someone sued them for violating GPL.

[Sharktooth]

any info on the net or elsewhere?

[fields_g]

Googled "aud-x gpl" and came up with this (http://www.aud-x.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6).

[squid_80]

I was just speculating. I was one of several people who kept requesting their source code and kept getting stonewalled. Their "Donationware" license is illegal and they refused to acknowledge the GPL projects they had obviously used source code from. There were more important people than I who weren't happy about it but AFAIK they didn't take action:
They're stalling. As long as the problem on their end is just a couple of comments on a bulletin board they're not going to care. I don't have any code in their main codec, but I don't intend to let them continue to distribute VirtualDubMod Surround if they're going to disregard the license like this.

[Kurtnoise]

I was just speculating. I was one of several people who kept requesting their source code and kept getting stonewalled.
http://www.aud-x.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=34&func=selectcat&cat=5

[squid_80]

There's no source code for their codec there. There's a dll file with header definitions and their BS license.

[Kurtnoise]

aaa...ok. I thought you spoke about VDM sources.

So, why not asking directly to 3dsnar (http://forum.doom9.org/member.php?u=90343) for what's going on ?

[squid_80]

Been down that rabbit hole... (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=807675#post807675) The message on their website about making it open source appeared after Dimzon's suggestion and then nothing else. In the meantime they're still using an illegal licence agreement (GPL does not allow any additional restrictions to be imposed).

Personally I'm happy to see it fade into obscurity. They took hard work done by several other groups/individuals (including their GUI!), added a little bit of their own work and came out saying it was something brand new and fantastic. To me their whole website seemed to scream, "Hey big companies invest in our product!" and I'm relieved that didn't happen.

[3dsnar]

squid_80, thanx for the worm words...

You have no idea how much new had been added...
Did you test it against mp3 surround?
Did you test the prologic2 decodig simulation?
Did you test it at all?

So before making any judgements, please provide some facts,
and constructive criticism will be most welcome.

---
The project was from the beginning a commercial undertaking,
however this did not exclude publishing the source code,
which we have initially planned.

To be honest, people had to do something for a living,
and since the project did not turn out to be a commercial success,
there was no one who would take care an open source project administration.
---

If someone is interested in administrating it as an open source,
I will be happy to provide all the source code and necessery info,
and will be also happy to participate and improove the encoding/decoding algorithms.
I am just a DSP scientis, and do not have the necessary programming skills to take care of all aspects of the project...

Anyone?

Cheers,
3d

[fccHandler]

It isn't someone else's job to administer your open source projects, or help you to comply with the GPL. That is your responsibility. You happily host the modified VirtualDub binary on your site, yet you don't host the source for that binary. Seven months ago you assured (http://www.aud-x.com/content/view/34/41/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6) us that the source would be provided. How hard is it to zip the source and put a link next to your download link for VirtualDubMod?

Your excuses are unacceptable, in my opinion. Few of us actually make any money from the open source projects we develop, yet we are perfectly capable of hosting our source code alongside our binaries, and thus complying with the spirit of the GPL. I don't know why you consider Aud-X to be the sole exception.

I would like to know in what country you are based. In the United States, it's illegal to distribute other folk's copyrighted works without their permission. The GPL is your permission, but ONLY if you abide by its rules. You have never done so, and until you do, I have no respect for you or your project.

[Guest]

If someone is interested in administrating it as an open source,
I will be happy to provide all the source code and necessery info,
and will be also happy to participate and improove the encoding/decoding algorithms.
I am just a DSP scientis, and do not have the necessary programming skills to take care of all aspects of the project...

Anyone?
I volunteer. Please send all the materials to me at neuron2@comcast.net. Thank you.

[3dsnar]

Hi, thank you.
Please start the Aud-X project on sourceforge.
I have sent you all the materials in 3 emails.

Please confirm receiving it.
Cheers, 3d.

[3dsnar]

neuron2,
I have sent you everything.
You never confirmed receiving it.

Please do.

What are the next steps?

cheers,
3d

[_xxl]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/aud-x/

[Guest]

I have sent you everything.
You never confirmed receiving it. Sure I did. You even responded to my email.

Here's the problem now. After sending me the stuff you specified how I should manage the project, i.e., must use SourceForge. But I don't want to manage a SourceForge project. As you see, I don't use that for my own projects. So now, given that you are attaching strings, I'll have to withdraw my offer.

[3dsnar]

OK, so how would you like to proceed?

[fccHandler]

I would like to proceed by filing a lawsuit against you. Unfortunately I don't have the resources to do that, but maybe I can persuade Avery Lee to take an interest. You are violating his copyright by distributing a modified binary of VirtualDub without source code.

You ignored my previous post entirely, so I must ask you again... In what country are you based?

[obieobieobie]

It seems to be Poland

http://whois.domaintools.com/aud-x.com

[3dsnar]

FCC,
I am sorry, I missed your post.
I was convinced it was on the website (which does not seem to work at the moment). If it is not there, I will send you the sources and you can do whatever you want with it.


Peace,
3d

[Guest]

If you have the binary on your site, you must have the sources for download too. You can't just send them to fccHandler to discharge your obligations.

[3dsnar]

FCC, Nuron2

The sources for VDM are and always were on the website
(I have just checked)

Programmers section
http://www.aud-x.com/images/stories/downloads/virtualdubmod15_aud-x_enabled_source.rar

They were downloaded 256 times from the beginning of the Aud-X Project.

-------------------

Neuron2, you have promised to manage the Aud-X project.
I do not insist on doing this though SourceForge.
Please do it in your own way.

3d

[fccHandler]

Thank you for posting the direct link. However, I'm not able to find that link on your site. This page

http://www.aud-x.com/content/view/34/41/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=41

seems to be the section you refer to, but those links don't lead to the source code, as far as I can tell.

[3dsnar]

Hi
hmm, I have checked, indeed it seems to be some rubbish.

Some time ago the site was hacked, and I think this is the reason for the broken links.

I was unaware of this, because until now, no one actually complained. I will try to force the web guy who used to be responsible for the website to resurect these links.
I am sorry for inconvenience.

3d

[Guest]

I was unaware of this, because until now, no one actually complained.
LOL. What do you think we've been complaining about all this time?

[squid_80]

The source code for the modified virtualdubmod IS on their website, Kurtnoise posted links to it at the start of this thread. I just downloaded it to make sure (why oh why is it 80mb? Clean the project first and use a better compressor...) and it's valid. It can be found under download center->development.
What is missing is the source to the codec itself, which I understand has been sent to Neuron2 with permission to do whatever he wants with it. So please can it be added to neuron2.net/Hosted and we can put all this behind us?

[fccHandler]

The source code for the modified virtualdubmod IS on their website, Kurtnoise posted links to it at the start of this thread.
Indeed that is true, and I stand corrected. (I didn't check Kurtnoise's link.) My apologies to 3dsnar.

[3dsnar]

No problem. I just hope that Neuron2, or someone else
will be interested in continuing the Aud-X project.
Peace, 3d.