[Ubuntu-be] Nieuw lid.

[Yves Jans]

On 7/24/06, Bram Biesbrouck <b at beligum.org> wrote:
>
>
> Let me jump in here and explain my reasons for choosing flash (or, more
> specifically, FLV) as a transport-protocol (because that's what it is to
> me).


First of all, I really like your project idea.

I developed my own lossless codec and fileformat container for the Instrudeo
> project. Because of this, and because the format/codec is exactly suited
> for
> all the things I need to do with it, technically, the performance and
> file-sized I get from it are great. Just for a reference: I can save a
> 30min,
> 800x600x24 screen video, commented and all, in a file of about 60 MB.
> This is pretty great to me, since it's just what I need: good streaming
> performance, small disk size and intermediate seek-times. All of this is
> out
> there in the open, and I'm willing to explain the technology I used to
> everyone; it's all GPL'd.
> The underlying specs of the codec and format aren't that difficult and
> rocket-scienty, but, again, it does exactly what I need it to do.


That's the theory, choosing the right tool for the job

Now, by choosing FLV as my delivery method, I get a lot:
> - A technology that doesn't differ very much from my own standard (so,
> easily
> portable).
> - A viewer that's most widely penetrated in the computer-world. (let the
> flamewars begin)
> - A community-enabled streaming server with an active development-team,
> that I
> enjoy communicating with (Red5).
> - I can go on like this, but let's stop here.


I think you touched a very sensitive point with the FOSS users ;-)

The drawback is, indeed, that the format isn't GPL-compatible.
> But, I don't need that, it's just an intermediate form of transporting
> pixels
> to a client-computer, and like I said, by using this format, I'm
> guaranteed
> that *most* of my viewers will get the pixels delivered to them.
> Like you guys told me before, some 64bit platforms will get in trouble
> (and
> probably Solaris, HP-UX, etc too, I don't know)


The day that I see Flash running on HP-UX or Solaris I will have smoked too
much...


I think I'd like to contradict this, since I do am a (heavy) open-source
> believer. Every since I read Stallman's GNU Philosophy and ESR's Cathedral
> and the Bazaar (must have been 1999), I truly believe open-source is the
> right future for any software development. But I guess I'm more of a open
> source-adept then I'm a free-software one. Differently put, Bruce Perens
> says
> more to me then Richard Stallman...



Well here is the point where theory (see above) meets practice. I don't want
to be rude but I think it's time to give the 'finger' to Macromedia (now
Acrobat) to their so called web-enhancing products. Flash isn't free/open
source, that's fine by me. What's not fine with me is that a lot of web
developers use it to create their websites (sometimes with good reasons) and
that I cannot seem to be able to view that particular website because there
isn't a Flash player available for my platform.

My platform (AMD64) isn't exotic, on the contrary, it's going mainstream !
And even the supported browsers (Firefox) and platforms (32bit) still have
regular issues.

(ex)Macromedia has been promising and promising for new versions of Flash
player, Shockwave is a real joke (even no player) and 64bit seems to them
like a Science Fiction movie. They are not delivering !

How will we ever have a choice on the desktop when a particular feature
(even a killer feature from some of us) isn't available for it ? How did we
beat other closed source vendors ? By good competition. Look at Microsoft,
you might think they are loosing it if you watch their latest strategies.
All because of good competition.

Now if one uses an alternative to Flash (e.g. ogg/theora) that even might
not be as mature as the former people _will_ going to use it. By letting
them use it you give the developers of the FOSS alternative one of the
greatest contribution they can imagine: users ! In the FOSS development
eco-system more users means more feature requests, more developer interest
and pride, more bug reports, ...

This post might sound a little frustrating but it's not nice if you hit a
website and have to cross your fingers for it to render right. We're in the
year 2006.

As a last note I want to say that I certainly am not telling you what you
should use, but you maybe could give alternatives some attention or offer
them as an alternative on your project.

Good luck further on with your project !

Kind regards,

Yves

-- 
About me
************
My Music: http://www.last.fm/user/YvesJans/
My Photo's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yvesjans/

Ubuntu Linux steunpunt ==> http://ubuntu-be.org
About Ubuntu ==> http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop

[SomaFM] Commercial-free, alternative internet radio ==>
http://www.somafm.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-be/attachments/20060724/d6a40c30/attachment.htm