a linux ready for simple users ? (Re: issues with warty final

[sparkes]

Philippe Landau wrote:

I presume the list below contains the things you consider difficult in 
ubuntu and linux in general?

> viewing a DVD 
Many (most?) DVD's use a security system that is covered by patents and 
other legal protection.  This is the reason you can't view them under 
windows (using media player) until you have a some dvd playing software 
installed.  there are legal players available for linux (that you pay 
money for) and many of us consider the legality of the whole process is 
dubious anyway but unfortunatly to protect cannonical and the ubuntu 
project from legal action the software required to run dvd's on your 
system can not be supplied on the cd.  Google will tell you how to get 
dvd playback working.

> or a flash or quicktime movie,
> listening to internet radio or tv,
all of the above are in a similar situation to DVD playback.  Although 
the tools are available for free (as in beer, meaning they don't cost 
any actual money) they are not free (as in speech).  The problems you 
may be having are due to two small related issues.

The first is the software might not allow redistribution (or 
redistribution rights might be ambigus).  This means that ubuntu would 
be risking legal action if these tools where supplied.

The second is the codecs (encoders/decoders for the media type) might 
have redistribution problems.

Either way if it's possible for linux to playback these files (and for 
many types it is) google will be your friend again.  One caveat.  Some 
files require windows dll files to work.  This means they won't work on 
architectures other than i386.  YMMV.

> sharing files using p2p,

There are hundreds of linux p2p filesharing tools available.  From the 
command line 'apt-cache search p2p' or for a particular protocol 
'apt-cache search gnutella' will list many choices.

I use gtk-gnutella and bittorrent frequently.

> remastering DVDs -

never done this so I am not sure what software is available.

> i am still not sure if the linux-experts
> do not want to let non-geeks in on the fun

Linux experts would love to get more people involved in the use of free 
software.  That's what projects like ubuntu are all about.  Unfortunatly 
there is only so much time in the day so sometimes user friendliness is 
pushed aside for more features.  Luckily this is becoming a thing of the 
past and projects such as ubuntu and gnome are really pushing the ease 
of use issue while retaining a powerful system at the core.  Hopefully 
this will see us all as winners over the coming years.

> or if there are still too many problems in the software
> so it is not possible to offer it yet ?

in many cases the software is caught up in red tape.  It exists but 
because of legal issues in countries where software patenting is allowed 
it's difficult to distribute the software.

Where the software is lacking a feature you would like to see a good 
place is the bug tracking software of the maintainers.  It's often 
possible to add a wishlist feature request.  While many of these are 
quickly killed off with 'not a bug' answers many will prompt developers 
to update the roadmap ;-)  YMMV here but a polite feature request is 
normally given a polite answer if you ask in the right place.
> 
> kind regards     philippe
> 

sparkes
-- 
<davee> "Sparkes, the Pete Best of LugRadio"