[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On Sun, 1 Apr 2007 11:39:28 +0100 "Jonathan Roberts" <jonathan.roberts.uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/6507891.stm The whole article ignores GNU/Linux so it's not surprising Ogg Vorbis is not included. A common failing with click-online, despite the support for open source and free software within the BBC - including codecs that abide by open standards. My impression is that C-O is aimed at people who have hardly used a computer before and would see any GNU/Linux user as "overly advanced" for their content. I've certainly never found anything interesting or useful in C-O. The only two incidences of Linux being mentioned in C-O that I could find were that Firefox runs on Linux as well as Windows and OSX and ditto with VLC. Whereas BBC News has regularly covered Linux and GNU topics. A bit of lobbying may be in order, if you're interested. So much for the 'BBC's flagship technology programme'. The people behind the programme certainly seem aware of Linux, it seems to me that they simply don't consider Linux users as their target audience for C-O. Until that changes, I'll continue to ignore C-O. > It's about compression and codecs. At the end they suggest saving your > videos in multiple formats to ensure they'll remain playable in the > future. Am I missing something here or is future proofing not > something that OGG aims to do by providing a freely implementable and > open standard? Proprietary software doesn't always follow open standards - it is easier to write your own version of the standard that ignores the awkward or hard bits and adds a few customised marketing gimmicks of your own. Free software will always be available to you - all you'll need is a CPU that can run a free compiler like gcc. With your data in free data formats, you will always be able to access your data. Sometimes that may involve updating an old plugin or refreshing some old source code but once free, always free. (Which is NOT true for all open source - the 'always free' bit comes from the very clauses of the GPL that some open-source advocates would rather did not exist and which MS termed 'viral' and 'cancerous'.) -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
Attachment:
pgpB5yNDzVuDU.pgp
Description: PGP signature
-- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html