Hi Anders, On Tuesday, 8 June 2004 15:04, Anders Johansson wrote:
On Tuesday 08 June 2004 07.23, Paul Thompson wrote:
- No MP3 encoding ... Show me one system where it is! It's certainly not Windows. There, it's all Windows Media Format, no mp3 out of the box there
There *is* MP3, DVD, CD-RW, etc, drivers, codecs and apps in the CD-RW/DVD OEM drive box (for free as in beer). I can also name 20 places within walking distance of where I am now that I can buy it cheaply. I don't mind spending a few bucks--I for one English-speaker am not confused about 'Free as in Freedom not as in Free Beer'. Why don't the OEM Disto integrators offer a +US$20 SuSE Multimedia/Home User Option to have all the missing bits working without having to rake them together an install them. We seem to be choking in anti-proprietry ideology. If you compare a Linux Distro (Linux +KDE +Openoffice +KOffice +Evolution +XINE +etc), you have to compare it to other Bundles not just the base OS (M$Win +M$Plus +M$Plus Digital Media +M$Office, etc). I know the cost are high for MsOffice, but we are not talking cost. Check out this for less than $10 on top of windows, and that is just one of many and it does DVD. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2001/oct01/10-22RippingPR.asp And don't say it's 3rd party, because all of linux is 3rd party except the kernel. To *legally* get DVD codecs, MP3 encoders running in a Linux Distros is very cheap. If you don't believe me then check out Lindows.com Click-and-run. Putting Linux on the desktop should and could be made easier. The problem is not with the Open Source development but the Integration. That's what we pay the Distro manufacturers for. "Hey Dad, last version we lost MP3s, this version we lost DVDs... What's next Dad, the keyboard?" ;-) Cheers Paul