[advocacy] rc2 press release, a little belated, but with a nice surprise

[Jack Moffitt]

This press release went out on a limited basis, but no one seemed to notice
the good parts.

Read about the contest, and start looking for bugs :)


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Xiph.org Foundation Announces Ogg Vorbis Release Candidate 2
Featuring Bug-Hunting Contest on the Path to 1.0

The Xiph.org Foundation is proud to announce the latest release candidate of
the Ogg Vorbis open source audio codec.  This new release features major
quality and feature improvements and contains all the features that will
be included in Ogg Vorbis 1.0.  With this release, Ogg Vorbis has reached
unprecedented quality levels, feature completeness, and is closer than ever
to official 1.0 release.

Ogg Vorbis is a leading next-generation audio codec.  It is poised to become
the standard for audio distribution and streaming online, due to it's freedom
from intellectual property restriction and royalties. It is designed to
allow any person or organization to freely encode and distribute
high-quality digital audio.  The Ogg Vorbis reference libraries and
specification are open and freely available under the BSD license for both
commercial and non-commercial use.

The Xiph.org Foundation is confident that our reference implementation is
of the highest possible quality.  To ensure quality and to reward those
who help ensure quality, the Xiph.org Foundation has announced a bug
hunting contest in preparation for the 1.0 release.

Anyone who finds a bug in this version of the Ogg Vorbis reference libraries
between now and the next official Ogg Vorbis release will be rewarded with
a T-shirt, stickers and other goodies commemmorating their work.  The shirt
will contain the names of all successful-bug hunters and a celebration of
the next release.  Sponsors of this contest include the Xiph.org
Foundation, Michael Robertson, DMZ Services, Raph Levien, and the DNA
Lounge.  Full contest rules as well as status reports can be found at
http://www.vorbis.com.

There are many technical improvements in this release.  The most ground
breaking feature in this release is the long-awaited channel coupling.
With 8 channel coupling modes, any number of Vorbis audio channels can be
further compressed losslessly or lossily by eliminating the redundant
information.  No other audio codec has this class of functionality.
The result of this new feature is Ogg Vorbis files are now between 20%
and 50% smaller and sound even better than before.

The final version of Ogg Vorbis is coming soon.  Visit http://www.vorbis.com
for the latest Ogg Vorbis news, software downloads, links to compatible
software, news, and sample audio tracks from labels and independent artists.

About the Xiph.org Foundation

The Xiph.org Foundation is a non-profit computer science research foundation
that is in the process of applying for 501(c)(3) status.  The Foundation is
working to provide open, patent-free multimedia standards.  Their work on the
Ogg Vorbis audio codec project has been groundbreaking.  The Foundation is
seeking funding to continue work on open audio stadnards and to accelerate
work on an open, patent free video codec.

For more information on the Xiph.org Foundation and to discuss corporate or
personal support for the Foundation's work, contact Patrick Mahoney at
415-235-5645.

For press contact or to learn more about the Ogg Vorbis project, please
contact Jack Moffitt at 415-595-5215.

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