Restricted software in Ubuntu, continued

[thully at umich.edu]

I see that Flash is included in universe and can be installed in Firefox
(in fact, I just tested the capability).  However, on my system Flash has
no sound after installing it.  Since I was using the same Flash version as I
used successfully on warty, I filed a bug under alsa about this - it was closed
with resolution UNIVERSE.  I think that even if Flash isn't in main/restricted,
it's use should be supported and issues with it should be investigated
(especially in my no sound case).  I was able to work around this
by disabling the GNOME sound server, but most users won't be able
to fix this by theirselves (and this is a kludge fix).

This illustrates my problem with universe - that nobody cares if something
is broken, and there is no way to submit bugs.  The bugzilla page tells
users to submit universe bugs to Debian, but I really don't think they
will be very receptive to bugs logged on another distribution, and
some of my issues w/universe and multiverse have not been present in Debian
(actually, I didn't use a straight Debian install but Kanotix - which
is basically Debian sid on an installable live CD).  In my mind, this
is a gaping problem - especially for popular universe/multiverse packages.

To resolve these issues, I would suggest:

Adding non-free packages which have no viable free alternatives to restricted. 
If they can be freely redistributed, add them to the Ubuntu CD.  If they can't
be, but can be downloaded legally and free of charge, include "dummy packages".
Support these packages officially on bugzilla, and try the best possible to make
them work well on the Ubuntu system.

When somebody attempts to play media that is in a non-free format, the system
should prompt the user to download/install the package if it falls into the
above category of "legal, free-as-in-beer".  If not, tell them that the file or
DVD is unsupported due to patent issues and give them a link to a web page
explaining why.

Allowing bug reports on universe packages, but give them a much lower priority
than main.  Maybe some sort of "community support" could be set up so
that the community could provide fixes to universe packages.

Add multiverse to the default sources.list, as even experienced computer
users may not know of its existence after installing Ubuntu.


P.S. I am still confused as to the status of MP3 and the legality of
encoders/decoders.  Ubuntu distributes MP3 decoding in universe - is this
legal?
All I know is that many distributions include MP3 decoding but not encoding,
and I'm a bit confused that Ubuntu can include MP3 decoding in universe but not
main.