[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] web: announce code.ffmpeg.org

[Nicolas George]

Jacob Lifshay (HE12025-07-24):
> ok, I prefer to never do that though because it makes reading the
> patches very annoying. Anyone should be able to read the patches
> without having to download files and open them in their editor (which
> is particularly annoying on phones), leaving a bunch of unwanted files
> around when you're done reading.

I see your complaint about mail. But then I notice that you are posting
from GMail.

You have to realize that GMail's software is not meant for the likes of
you or me, it is not meant for people who see a plain text file and
think text/plain, it is meant for people who see a plain text file and
look for the way to set it in Comic Sans.

GMail's software is designed to sustain Google's cyberfeudalism market
model: make it very easy to enter and very hard to leave. Making it hard
to leave has the unavoidable consequence to give very little control
that power users can use.

You, and anybody who does not exclaim “I'm not a computer scientist” when
they see a dialog box with more than two buttons, would greatly benefit
from replacing your use of GMail's software with a real mail client
running under your own control.

Not just for your contributions to FFmpeg but for your daily use of mail
also. For example, where GMail only shows you a “conversation” with all
mail in chronological order, a real mail software can show you it as a
tree, making it clear who is responding to who. When the discussion is
not linear, it makes a world of difference.

Note that you can use a real mail client running under your
responsibility and still use Google's gratis hosting, you just need to
connect your client to your GMail account.

And even if you do not want to change your habits, even if you want to
continue to use the GMail webmail-for-lusers in your day to day use of
mail, you can still use a second client just for the patches on the
mailing-list, preferably automating it: a few shell scripts and the
patches will be ready for you in the format you prefer.

In short and imaged, I see you arguing that screws are too difficult to
use and we should use twisted vines instead, but the real issue is that
you are using a Playskool Plastic Tool Set instead of a proper
screwdriver.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George