OpenAL not really open?

[Sauer2]

Hi together,

i always thought, OpenAL was free software, but according to the english wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAL), it is now proprietary for quite a time, since Creative Labs has taken over development 2006.

So when you are talking about using OpenAL, do you actually use the last free version 1.1 of the original version or do you use OpenAL Soft?

[Arthur]

I think all widespread use is OpenAL Soft.

[sireus]

Well, it's not really different from OpenGL. The specification is open, but not all implementations are. As Arthur mentioned, OpenALSoft is free and the most widespread implementation, which is available on almost any platform. AFAIK Creative's proprietary implementation is only distributed with their sound hardware.

[Sauer2]

OK, thanks, that makes it somewhat more clear.