[M4IF Technotes] Location of reference software

[the_ether]

Thanks Rob.
> The Reference SW is an official part of the MPEG-4 standard. It goes
> through the same revisions as the text. When bugs are discovered, MPEG
> creates a corrigendum. When new parts are added, this becomes and
> amendment (read: "addition")

Really? But the reference s/w available from their site appears to date from
1999 and yet it would appear that there have been many versions since then.
Why then aren't these amendments available from ISO?
There appears to be a disconnect between the official releases of the s/w
and paper versions. Presumably this is precisely what you are about to (very
kindly) enquire about as you state below.
> I am in the process of getting an even more up-to-date version officially
> published.

> The pointer below is interesting, as it points to information that
> has ISO copyright and M4IF cannot publish without breaching copyright.

Well although they may own the copyright (in partnership with the
contributors), the files state,
 "ISO/IEC gives users of MPEG-4 Video free license to this software module
or modifications thereof for use in hardware or software products claiming
conformance to the MPEG-4 Video"
and furthermore,
"Copyright is not released for non MPEG-4 Video conforming products. "
and
"This copyright notice must be included in all copies or derivative works."
To me all this implies that we are free to copy it. We must merely repeat
the copyright notice and can only use this code in MPEG-4 compliant
products. No problem. And the original code was free anyway. Why so
difficult to get hold of the amendments?
Their copyright notice sounds very much like a type of LGPL licence - an
open source licence. So really, if I have understood correctly, anyone,
whether or not they are a member of M4IF or other, ought to be able to get
free access to the latest version.
Anyway, you've already stated that you are working on getting an even newer
version released, for which I thank you. It will make my life as an
individual researcher much easier.
Best regards
graham