Restricted Formats on a Free Operating System [was: Another Unofficial UbuntuGuide?]

[Derek Broughton]

Eamonn Sullivan wrote:

> On 07/11/05, Timothy A. Holmes <tholmes at mcaschool.net> wrote:
>>
>> My solution is to make sure that the there is excellent (read that as
>> below basic level) documentation on EXACTLY what to type etc to do the
>> source installs)  I understand we cant distribute the software, but if
>> we can make the compile/install process as user friendly and painless
>> and un-intimidating as possible, that would be a huge start

In that case, I agree with you.  However, it's largely going to be up to
individual software developers.  This is a problem that's not unique to
non-free software.  Linux distros are developed by geeks who typically have
an antipathy to documentation.  A _lot_ of linux apps are short of
documentation.  Trying to get good documentation about what you need to add
to make a DVD player work - especially when giving that advice _may_ be
illegal - is pretty tricky.
> 
> I wonder if another possible solution (and a business opportunity) is
> to make it crystal clear to users how much money the patent holders
> are demanding for some multimedia codecs/decrypters. A company could
> package the codecs into ubuntu add-ons, priced at multiple levels,
> depending on the pound of flesh demanded by the firms who control
> them, plus a reasonable margin for the effort of tracking changes in
> Ubuntu at six-month intervals. This could actually appeal to the
> corporates, or the very honest.

I knew someone who was trying to buy a license to develop MPEG4 software. 
The licensor simply refused to sell it, at any price, for an app that would
run on Linux.
-- 
derek