ubuntu aims (Re: Idea for expanded support of some non-free software

[Philippe Landau]

Daniel Stone wrote:
>>>>>>of these, multimedia is the one lacking most, 
>>>>>>so it would justify the biggest attention.
>>>>>Sure, and we're working on it, [...]
>>>>if, as you wrote, there are around 20 canonical
>>>>employees working on ubuntu, why can not at least
>>>>one concentrate on the field admittedly lacking the most ?
>>>Because, as Matt said -- we're hackers, not lawyers.  The technical
>>>problems to do with multimedia have already been solved, 
>>could VLC be moved from "universe" to main ?
> I don't know.
can you please ask ?

>>>as you can see by the fact that you can 
>>>play these files if you use illegal software.
>>>The problems left to be solved are all legal; 
>>there is no way to know exactly what is legal 
>>without working with a lawyer.
> This is incorrect and misleading.
> If Microsoft puts licence terms on codec DLLs that specify that you do
> not get the right to redistribute them or use them as a part of anything
> other than WMP, then we cannot do that.
> Similarly, I don't need to be a lawyer to tell you that if you modify my
> GPL changes and distribute binaries, you'd better well be distributing
> source also.
as you note below, there are clear cases
and there are cases needing clarification.
some things can be figured out by amateurs, others need professionals.
ubuntu is a professional release and deserves quality assistance
in this field too.

>>no international business can operate without
>>consulting lawyers and i am sure canonical does too.
>>some of the software for multimedia is only illegal
>>in the united states.
> Which, you may note, is a reasonably large market.
but not a reason to neglect the other 95% of the world :-)

>>>>>>>However, we can increase demand for unencumbered formats 
>>>>>>>such as the Xiph stable - Ogg with Vorbis, Speex, Theora, etc. 
>>>>>>great, how could canonical contribute to this ?
>>>How do you suggest we increase demand 
>>>(says the man with 16GB of Vorbis ripped from CD)?
>>i envy you :-)
>>ubuntu could install the best p2p apps by default,
>>including shortcuts to them.
> Encouraging theft is not high on my wishlist.  I don't think it would be
> high on the wishlist of government departments considering Linux,
> either.
if theft is all you think when speaking about
sharing files from peer to peer ...

> If you want to get music, do what I did on Saturday night, and go to
> HMV/Virgin/Select-A-Disc/Mr Bongo's/Obese/whatever, and spend half of
> your pay on music.
personally, i prefer to convert music from friends and tracks from the 
public domain and share it with others using p2p software.

>>>>>How could you contribute to this? :-)
>>>>like all users i could convert media to these open formats
>>>>if ubuntu offered an easy way to do it.
>>as mentioned by others too, ubuntu could provide an install script
>>for setting up proprietary codecs.
> I doubt we could provide a script, really.  Saying 'we've automated the
> process of illegally using software, contravening its licence, and it's
> installed by default' is a tremendously bad idea.
could canonical please speak with a lawyer
specialising in supporting open source software
about the possibilities and options used by other distros ?