jamescox84

Two questions here on the legality of DVD Video Backup. At our school many departments have DVD videos they use in classes. I was thinking it would be a good idea to simply RIP these DVD to a central shared area, and store the DVD's but never use them directly. Is this fair use? We'd keep the original to prove that we have it. The other question relates to the above. If we where to make backup copies, and rip the disks using say VLC after decryption of course. What is the legality of using proprietary video codecs (MPEG4), do we have to pay anything, even if the encoder implementation is free. In fact is using an open-source MPEG2 decoder (VLC) for DVD playback even legal. I know it's open source but doesn't the MPEG licensing authority require royalty payment in some form? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

If £226M is true that is disgusting! Certainly there is no correlation between the quality of SIMS.net and it's cost! No one could argue that SIMS.net was a well planned, well constructed piece of software. It always seems to me that it is a software project that has grown too quickly, with inconstant interface and metaphors. It would not surprise me if the various modules of SIMS.net are developed by people who have no idea how the other modules work, or indeed how the system is constructed! Anyway with only small fraction of the money that has been spent on SIMS.net by the government, we could have a really good MIS in about three years. Yes, nationalize software development for government administration, make it open source!

Thanks for the replies it's good to hear your thoughts on this. I hadn't really considered the venders of the proprietary systems have an objection to this, but thinking about it now it's seems obvious. Then again I don't think the government should let companies call the shot's on what schools should be using, that's not their place. On the flip side of that argument maybe developing software is not the place of the government. However it get clearer as time goes on just how much we are becoming locked into proprietary system in schools, due to over investment. The government should help support the development of open-source projects, as I believe these have the most positive impact on society and more specifically students in our schools.

I don't suppose this is a new idea. But seems how every school in the UK pretty much needs an MIS system, and that they are an expensive piece of software (licensing, support and training). It appears to me to that the UK government should develop an Open Source and Free MIS system for use in schools. Obviously third parties can provide support for this system and turn a profit. I am of course vary aware of the fact that this would not be a very cheep option for the government. But I think the cost would be offset in the long-run, by not having to budget for software licences from large companies such as Capita. By releasing open source it encourages third-parties companies and end-users in school to contribute, significantly lowering the cost of development later on in the systems life. The reason I post this is because I would like to see what other thought of this idea. Have I missed something plainly obvious, or is it indeed a good idea. Thanks