Some observations

[Rui Tiago Matos]

On Wed, 01 Dec 2004 22:12:41 -0500, Dmitriy Kropivnitskiy
<nigde at mitechki.net> wrote:
> >From what I understand, Ubuntu project is a political statement first
> and user convenience second. I can definitely understand and sympathize
> such a goal, but unfortunately it was not my initial  impression of the
> project. I suppose I need to RTFM more before installing :) Due to this
> stance of the development group, I will have to regretfully abandon
> Ubuntu for a different distribution, that will give me a freedom of
> using a non-free (either as in beer or as in speech) software at my
> discretion without going into out of my way. I am not saying that adding
> a couple of lines to sources.list is a difficult task, but as I said, my
> initial impression of the project was, that such steps would not be
> required for the system to work as I expect. I have not been running
> windows for several years, and I do not expect system to act exactly
> like Windows or any other particular OS (including multiple other
> distributions I know), and I perfectly understand that certain features
> I might have been used to might be implemented differently. But flat
> refusal to accommodate basic user needs (such as MP3 and DVD playback)
> without providing a valid alternative (such providing a working free
> version of the software in question and/or giving user a choice to
> easily install non-free version) together with lack of flexibility,
> however honorable are the intentions is  not an acceptable combination
> for my use of Linux. I believe that free and non free software and
> technologies can coexist and one should not replace the other.
> 
> Good luck on the project, I will definitely check out Hoary when it
> comes out.
> 
> I will stay signed up for the list for a couple of days in case someone
> wants to add anything.

Please consider:

Why doesn't ubuntu work with MP3 or DVD's (by default)? Is the
developers fault? No. Is it any kind of single minded philosophy?  No.
The problem is the LAW! You have things like the DMCA (and equivalents
outside of the US) that don't let you implement programs to play DVDs
unless you pay the royalties and promise to not disclose the
information needed to do it. No matter how much you would like  to do
it. This is the problem. It's the politicians and the lawyers fault.
Shame on them!
Besides, I don't think any ubuntu/canonical employee would oppose you
to buy a proprietary  program to play DVDs and MP3 and install it on
ubuntu. Please do it if you want, ubuntu provides the lower
infrastructure to allow such uses.

Rui