[Sussex] Agree

[Dominic Clay]

> i'm quite happy to have my DVD player now up and
> running with
> VideoLan installed.  But it was a bugger to get going - I 
> spent several
> hours last night downloading DEB file upon DEB file, until all the
> references resolved.  On WinDoze I just slam the installation 
> disk and 5
> minutes later I'm watching "Fast and the Furious in Quality 
> Surround Sound".

>While that may well be true you are forgetting one major point - you pay
for software on Windows.  THe DVD decryption algorithm is protected by
patents >and licenses and thus (in the USA at least) the open-sourcing and
royalty free delivery of such an algorithm is not allowed (you can of course
find out >what the algorithm is by reading the patent documentation - but
you may not use or modify it without license).  

>The free libraries you are using _do_not_ use the patented algorithm, but
even so, under the terms of the USA's lovely DMCA they cannot be used or 
>communicated (or so the MPIAA claim - the debate continues in court) - thus
they cannot be built into nice tools like apt-get and you are forced to jump
>through hoops get them installed (an indeed find them in the first place).

Whilst I / we may think linux / Free software is facinating, and I long for
the time when the patent situaltion is resolved to our way of thinking, the
fact is no sane person gives a damn!!!!!

Fact is I don't mind spending hours fiddling with my computer in order to
get something that works.  I actually get a buzz out of solving or watching
others solve ( :P ) IT problems.   But most normal people do not!

I like using free software I believe in most of what it stands for.   But my
mum doesn't care!!!  

Todays culture is:  If its free, it ain't any good, and whilst this is in
part at least, true for linux (wrt usability!) we're not going to see
immediate success.  

One day, the Linux environment (or something else ??? ) will equal and
almost certainly better M$.  But until then it *doesn't*.  It does other
cool thing much better.
But...

It doesn’t feel smooth on the desktop no matter what hardware you thow at it
It doesn't do anything you want with a point of a mouse.
It doesn't make my mum think she can rule the world from her laptop.

It doesn't matter about Patents and courtroom debates, it just doesn't...

(IMHO)  :)

Dominic

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