thelinuxlink.net

By now the Ubuntu review has been heard by many people. We received email particularly about our issue with non-free software like mp3 and video codecs not being readily available for Ubuntu.

I very much agree with the FSF's stance on this topic but wonder about the alternative and what choices are available.

Ogg is a far better choice than mp3, but ogg is not widely supported yet. Is there enough influence for manufacturers of audio devices to include ogg support? Will there ever be an iPod with ogg support?

What are the alternatives on the Video side? The majority of online video content is Quicktime or Windows Media Player. What other alternatives are there? What is the FSF's answer to those technologies? How can we begin to push for more content devlopment for these technologies?

Flash is another issue. I don't see Macromedia opening the source to flash anytime soon.

I see this as being a major hurdle for the general user to adopting Linux. I hear a lot that for the person who uses their computer to read email, sure the web, and write documents, Linux is an ideal choice. And while I agree, there is a lot of content on the web that appeals to these users that is at odds with the philosophy of free software.

What are your opinions?

Hi, Dann, and the rest of the gang!

Been in seclusion in northern Saskatechwan on a project for a week, so I missed this week's show. I'm downloading it now and will listen to it tomorrow (giving myself the day and weekend off for the 7 days of thirteen hour shifts I've just endured).

It's a belief of mine that, even though it seems like industry and corporations set the standards, they don't..... we, as consumers, do.

MP3, QuickTime, WMP, and Flash are the media giants because we've made them so.

I firmly believe that, if we want the standards to change to something more openly available, it's up to us to do it. You'd like to see an open source alternative to MP3s? Stop using them and use Ogg.

Yes, at the moment this is a very inconvenient choice, but if more people would do it, portable player manufacturers will start supporting it if it means getting your money. It may be a sacrifice now, but it would beneficial in the long run.

Same for formats, like Macromedia Flash. Do we really need Flash to make a webpage? No, of course not. But we use it anyway, so Macromedia makes it. If the majority of web developers decided to stop using Macromedia products until they offered open source alternatives, they'd do it.... again if it meant getting your money.

I know as an individual, the product choices I make don't do much of anything to change the market. But that doesn't mean I should just give in and do what everyone else is doing.

I also try and limit my support to manufacturers to cater to my likes and needs. Example: I was never a big HP customer in the past. Yet, because they've seemed to make an effort to support us Linux users with their prodcuts, I'll buy from them over their competition. It's not that I spend a lot on hardware, but it's a way of showing my support for their decision.

Good topic!

For audio there's flac and for video there's XviD.

I'm not sure about flash. Can you animate SVG? If so that would prolly be the best alternative

For video there is also <a href="http://www.theora.org/">theora</a>, but I've never used it; although it's meant to be stable.
But, the problem is trying to get other folk to use ogg, and theora.

Oh, yeah, check out <a href="http://geekpolitique.com/">Geek Politique</a>. Linc's favorite people
I listened and as with the Linux Show(TM), the part I enjoyed most was deleting it off my hard drive.

Steve

spn wrote: Oh, yeah, check out <a href="http://geekpolitique.com/">Geek Politique</a>. Linc's favorite people
I listened and as with the Linux Show(TM), the part I enjoyed most was deleting it off my hard drive.

Steve

Oh no! They are doing another one!
-Linc.