[Liverpool] proprietary formats @ liverpool uni

[Vladimir]

Alan, there's a confusion a bit here.
the thing is that the letter where i was "barking" about
compiling, etc was my letter after a harsh exchange of emails
before (about the MHT issue). i just can't post the letters of my lecturer
without asking him, as u understand.

about being bastian of open source. o believe me,
i am. sometimes even to extremes. but this case is a bit
different - because very large proportion of music students
use Macs (because of Logic Pro), and i wasn't speaking
only on my behalf there.
even worse - it is no longer all about one OS being
disadvantaged (say, Linux), but anything else other than Windows.
well, that's extremely not fair, IMHO.


On 06/03/2008, Alan Pope <alan at popey.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Mar 06, 2008 at 03:47:15PM +0000, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 15:26:32 +0000, Alan Pope wrote:
> >
> > > Alternatively you could have just looked at the name of the file and
> > > figured out that it's an article saved from The Guardian website:-
> > >
> > >
> http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Copying+music+legally+in+the+digital+age%22
> > >
> > > The first hit:-
> > >
> > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/09/copyrightlaws
> > >
> > > Whilst I agree that using non-free formats is bad, I think you could
> > > possibly have approached this in a somewhat less confrontational
> manner.
> >
> > I disagree. Firstly, you have no way of knowing whether the file is that
> > article, just because the title is the same.
>
>
> Whilst this is indeed true, the reason I mentioned it was because there
> was
> a lot of rant and rhetoric in the mail sent to the originator of the mht
> file. The "you're singling me out" "discriminating against me" type of
> response in my experience is less effective than a _polite_ request to
> make
> the file available in an open format. I was in no way advocating using
> non-free formats, merely pointing out that it's self destructive to the
> cause to rant at people who in all likelyhood are just doing their job
> with
> the tools they're given.
>
> Fact is that in all likelyhood the file _is_ a copy of the Guardian
> article
> which may well have been originally been supplied with text such as "Take
> a
> look at this Guardian article". To suggest that you should bother googling
> _because_ the file is supplied in a non-free format is being bloody minded
> IMO.
>
>
> > Secondly, what happens next
> > time an article is made available in this format? If you're going to try
> > to change things, sooner is better than later.
> >
>
>
> Which could be effected much quicker if you were to show the originator
> the
> error of their ways in a polite manner. Barking at them about WINE this
> and
> compiling that isn't the right way to go about it. Getting hold of the
> document in html format with the attached web collatoral, and feeding back
> to the originator in an open format such as a zip file might yield better
> results. Perhaps with a note saying "In the future I and other people
> would
> appreciate it if you take this approach to the distribution of files".
>
>
> > Making any data available as an exe file is a terrible idea,
> particularly
> > for Windows users. Forcing people to download and run executable files
> is
> > an easy way to infect their machines.
> >
>
>
> I never advocated otherwise. I merely attempted to assist someone in
> unpacking what was originally suggested to be self extracting zip archive.
>
> I have to say I find it somewhat ironic that the complainant here is
> making
> a big deal about file distribution in open formats then brazenly states
> that
> the file opened fine on an Apple Mac running Quicktime. Not exactly the
> bastian of open source products is it? :)
>
> Cheers,
> Al.
>
>
>
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>



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