How Vlc uses Revision Control

Posted on by jamesatsu

A version control is very important as it keep track of computer programs.In this archive the files of  the source code of computer programs are kept.It also gives access to track changes made to the source code,  why the change was made, who made the change, gives reference about issues that were solved and improvements that occurred with the changes.

http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/versioncontrol

Patch is basically making new changes to a software fixing bugs or adding documentations to it. They are mostly used to submit contributions to projects, but however it is the project manager that chooses whether to apply the changes to the source code.

http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/softwarepatch

Most of Vlc repositories  uses Apache Subversion as their version control system. Subversion is an Open Source Software Founded in the year 2000 by Collabnet Inc.

https://wiki.videolan.org/Subversion

http://subversion.apache.org/

Other System controls are: Git, SVN, Mercurial and CVS

 

 

Intellectual properties of vlc

Posted on by jamesatsu

The copyright of Vlc is owned by the VideoLAN team, VideoLAN does not require copyright assignment to the organization; instead the authors keep their copyright. Which means that every piece of work done on the project  is still under their project. They uses a Contributor License Agreement.

http://www.vlcapp.com/terms-of-service/

http://www.videolan.org/legal.html

 

They have some registered trademarks as follows: VideoLAN, VLC, VLC media player and x264

They do not use Software patents because it is not recognized in the French and European laws.

They make use of Lesser General  Public License (LGNU). They allow people to redistribute their software as much as it is under the General Public License.

On the  7th September 2011 numerous developers were contacted to approve the changing of  the vlc engine to LGPL.

http://www.videolan.org/press/lgpl.html

 

 

 

The sustainability of Vlc

Posted on by jamesatsu

Vlc is one of the top most used video player Software, I think this is because it supports most video file types and also because  it is very easy to use. It is still one of the best out there.

http://www.fixedbyvonnie.com/2013/10/why-vlc-player-is-the-best-media-player-on-earth/#.VHZVujGsXkE

Another important issue is that it is always updated, there are always reviews about the software. Discussions and views of some of their developers and programmers are published.

http://planet.videolan.org/

Finally I would say it is being sustained financially, because in my research I found out that they have lot of partners that support their project.

http://www.videolan.org/videolan/partners.htmlù

 

My three points:

1. It is widely used

2. It is updated and there always new releases

3. They are sustained financially

I think these three points are very important for an Open Source Software as they shows that the project is being very successful

VLC Track Issue

Posted on by jamesatsu

Issue tracking is very important to Software owners, as it is a mean to notify them about their software is presented to the users. It also evaluates

how the software is programmed and build.

I did some research about VLC assistance of issue tracking. They are happy to be informed when people  report  bugs or crash problems by using their Software.

Through their report bug page you will find the procedures to get a solution. ( https://wiki.videolan.org/Report_bugs )

If you are sure that you found a bug and that you have all information needed, you can enter a bug in their Trac system. (https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/newticket).

I found their report page very useful because they give people different options to find a solution to their problem.

Old preferences or incorrect settings are common causes of problems.
They give guidelines on how to delete your preferences FAQ . ( https://wiki.videolan.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions/ )

Example of blug:

VLC firefox plugin does not work with many paths

( https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/6704 )

Video-LAN Governance

Posted on by jamesatsu

Video-LAN is an organization based in France, therefore most of the things on their official page is redacted in English and refers to French law, which is the only one to be applicable to Video-LAN.

You can use the software in the way you want (within the boundary of law), for personal, educational, research, military, governmental, professional purpose or any other way…

It fits in the Cathedral development model as it is licensed under GNU General Public License.

It follows a Meritocratic governance process (https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=69426). The VideoLAN team is made up of developers from all over the world and former students of the École Centrale Paris.

http://www.videolan.org/videolan/

 

Community and Communication

Posted on by jamesatsu

For a community to work fervently it needs this three types of communications:

Outbound communication: whereby the members of a community or group, initiate a communication with a client on behalf of the community for things like: Surveys, contact list updating, telemarketing….

Inbound communication: is commonly when an external person from the community initiates a communication, for a personal interest such as donations or on behalf of a community.

Internal communication: is more likely to the way the community is organised internally, in the form of how team work is performed in the community.There are various types of team workers:

Implementer – Coordinator – Shaper – Plant – Resource investigator – Monitor Evaluator – Team worker – Completer- finisher – Specialist

My Open Source make use of a Forum which allows everyone to access it. You can find solution to your questions. It is considered both Internal and External communication

http://www.sitepronews.com/2010/09/20/what-is-the-difference-between-inbound-and-outbound-marketing/

Vlc Community

Posted on by jamesatsu
VLC has a variety Community tools and sections that are in the interest, goals of the project. There are various tools you can find in their community sections:

Wiki : here you can find reference documentation and tips on VideoLAN’s projects for “users” and “developers”

Forums : Meant for sharing ideas, discuss about something or find solutions to problems.

Mailing-Lists : user support for VideoLAN software and announces for VideoLAN releases and events

FAQ : Documents available for user. You have  permission to copy, distribute and/or modify documents of VLC under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. The text of the license can be found on the GNU website.

Donate money : You can donate money to the project through VideoLAN’s PayPal account. There is no minimal amount for your donation.

Donate time: If you have time, you can help in various areas: Programmers, Writers, Translators, Moderators & Support, Designers.

Get Goodies : Here you can  help promote VLC with; Clothing, Food, Videos, Boot screens, Banners and Wallpapers.

VLC MEDIA PLAYER

Posted on by jamesatsu

A project and a non-profit organization, composed of volunteers, developing and promoting free, open-source multimedia solutions. (http://www.videolan.org/index.html)

VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs,play media from your computer or a disk and various streaming protocols  from the Web.

What is VideoLAN? What is the VideoLAN Team?

VideoLAN is a non-profit organization, that produces and distributes free and open source software for video and multimedia purpose, released under Open Source licenses.

It started as a student project at the French École Centrale Paris but is now a worldwide project with developers from everywhere and dozens of millions of people using VideoLAN’s software. It is a life project because

What is the legal structure of VideoLAN?

VideoLAN is a French non-profit organization.
VideoLAN has its own bank account and is fully responsible of this website.

VLC is the official name of VideoLAN’s main product, often named VLC. VideoLAN Client is an ancient name of this product.

VideoLAN Server is another product of VideoLAN, but is discontinued since a long time.

GNU General Public Licence

The GNU General Public Licence, or GPL as it’s often called, is the most popular free software licence and it’s used by many different projects, including the Linux kernel, the GNU tools and literally hundreds of others.( http://www.videolan.org/legal.html )

The GNU Lesser General Public Licence

The LGPL is similar to the GPL, but is more designed for software libraries where you want to allow non-GPL applications to link to your library and utilise it. If you modify the software, you still have to give back the source code, but you are allowed to link it with proprietary stuff without giving the source code to all of that back. ( http://www.videolan.org/legal.html )

VideoLAN

VLC is really  a great open source as It is suitable for professionals and home users as well.

Exposing Myself through Open source

Posted on by jamesatsu

Open source has helped lots of people get into the loop of fame.

Planning towards your goal is very essential as important, put in your mind that everyone can become somebody as well as they have that self determination.

Start working hard, get in touch with new things. Explore, search in books, use the internet.

Use Open Source and expose yourself, expose your good work, demonstrate the difference with facts. use the potentiality of Open source to reach your goal!

Use open source to advertise yourself basing on:

1. What you did

2. What you are doing

3.What you will do.

Reach that your goal. Open source works!  

 

NETWORK ANALYST

Posted on by jamesatsu

It is one of the careers in the computing industry.

Network analysts are computer experts who prepare computers in a network, which enables the computers to be able to work together and share information. Analysts make hardware and software configurations for businesses by analyzing their needs in order to help them achieve their network system goals. This may include setting up all the computers within one physical location or for multiple locations across a vast network for a sole organization.

Why choose to be a network analyst:

– good money

– Network helps connect computers

– It is a career that is growing and improving day by day.

negative aspect:

you keep doing same thing all the time.