[MPlayer-users] xine and sorenson

[Albino]

Arpi wrote:
> [Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> Hi,
> 
> 
>>Recently, three days ago, I have seen, in Italy, Richard Stallman 
>>speaking of closed standard (word documents, but can be enlarged to all 
>>other closed formats).
> 
> 
> that man don't know any realtity
> he imagines a world with no money and everything fere & open
No, seriously, he jokes, essentially he pointed that at least
knowledge must be free (obvious) and the question is:
what is "knowledge"? whath is usefull to be considered "knowledge"?
Every thing that once modified will be better or usefull in some way.
In this way software is knowledge.
Only knowledge must be free.


>>Briefly  he said : you must not use closed format files.
> 
> 
> ha-ha
> == 'eat shit, it's free & open, do NOT eat the closed-source non-free food'
I like to pay for eating.
I'm speaking of free formats , and shit is always different , not so 
good for an open standard :)

> Unfortunatelly we are NOT in the position to decide what formats to be used.
WHY? WHAT? WE CAN! you will not defend your wills? politics is a way.
In Italy Public Administration is working to ask for open formats to be 
used by law, no way for closed formats they must be revoked or be 
published and unpatented, and the same is happening in many other 
European countries and others from all over the world.
Not to speak of the use of open source sw in every State levels,
moreover open source is not intended to be free it's only required to be 
open
(for security and interoperability reasons), and to respect open standards.


> You can either watch closedsource codecs or not watch it at all.
Now most people are doing so, but why not to change?

>>OK, I do, or at least I'll try, I hope all you do the same, so I think 
>>the best thing in mplayer is mencoder, that can be used to convert from
>>closed format to open ones, then  mplayer becomes usefull. :)
> 
> 
> With big quality loss - but why is it better then?
don't think at today think at tomorrow,
when for some strange economical decision that closed format
is no more supported,
is useful to mantain an unsupported format?
transcoding in a free format is a solution.


> The goal of MPlayer is to make video playback possible on linux - whatever
> format and codecs it uses.
I know, it's a good thing.

> If you're ok only with open codecs, why don't you
> use Xanim or Xmovie ? 
I have to use them? I have used them, but now there is mplayer!

> No, you are here, here, because you have to.
And I'll be here even when there are no more closed standards :)
(I hope mplayer will last forever)

> Even if you are the boss, you can't tell your customers that use these free
> formats instead their natural but closed formats.
"natural"? if you like interoperability, open formats are better, if you 
like not to depend from only one or few companies for reading and 
writing something, open standars is a solution.
If something is diffused it doesn't mean it's better,
what is better Windows or Linux, a city car or a Ferrari?
If , as many people, one person saves a file in word format, as it seems 
"natural" to him, it doesn't mean that there are no other and better 
formats to save a text file, simply he doesn't decide the format and 
lets M$ decide ,so when M$ needs some money release a new word version 
with a new word format with no backward compatibility, this is a 
commercial decision (non usefull for the customer) and has no tecnical 
reasons.
So, don't want to be you to decide your formats?
When you write a new mplayer version, do you add new formats to obtain 
incompatibility with the previous version?


> It's only possible in RMS's ideal  - but nonexistant - world, where GPL is
> something good.
OK he is an idealist, but some smooted ideas can be used now.

> But we're living in this f**** world, where GPL has teh goal
> to protect us from the companies, but really it "protects" us from using
> their products togethwer with our GPL code, so we have to re-invent and
> re-write everything or _we_ break the law.
The laws are made by men, may be they are wrong, an can be changed,
some laws are wrong and the ones concerning copyright must be adapted to 
our times,
such laws are too old and are linked to printed copyright, there is no 
reason
to apply copyright for something of newer, copyright was allowed to 
protect technical development, if a copyright is not used to do so must 
not be applied.


-- 

ciao
                                      albino