Fedora Core 2 - review.

[Sean Estabrooks]

On Sat, 22 May 2004 11:43:51 +0200
Davy Brion <ralinx at pandora.be> wrote:

> On Sat, 2004-05-22 at 07:33, Sean Estabrooks wrote:
> > Sorry Robin, you've completely missed the point.   There is a reason
> > that these things are not provided by a FC2 install.   It's because they
> > are not free.   Trying to make a MS Windows clone is doomed to failure.
> > We can not afford to allow _them_ to set the agenda.   What is important
> > is making our own community that supports truly free protocols 
> > and data formats that we can enjoy.   
> > 
> > As the tyranny of  Windows use becomes greater and greater people 
> > will be more willing to join us and use OUR formats.   We need to 
> > promote the use of free protocols more than we need to pander to 
> > new converts.
> 
> as good as that sounds, it's not a very realistic view. People want to
> share multimedia files.  I'm not talking about warez but a lot of
> regular computer users often like to share fun stuff with other people.
> This stuff could be sites they find amusing, a song they like, a funny
> movie clip, etc...  And unfortunately, those files usually are mp3,
> flash, mpeg, etc.  
> 
> I know Red Hat can't support this stuff in Fedora from a legal point of
> view, but it is hurting linux adoption IMHO.  No matter how much better
> our alternatives are (like Ogg Vorbis for instance), if we can't support
> what other people are using, a lot of people simply won't care about how
> much better our alternatives are.  I'm talking about regular people. 
> The kind of people who don't even know a site is using Flash, or what
> MP3 or MPEG is all about... they simply don't care.  And if Linux
> systems don't support these technologies, to them it will seem as if
> Linux can't do as much as Windows can.
> 
> We may have the best technology, but you can't expect people to use it
> if they don't want to use it.
> 

Everything you say is true.   There will always be a tension between doing
something new and doing what the masses are doing.   Same problem for
the adoption of hydrogen cars, or HDTV or whatever.    It's just important
to not forget the goal.

The Fedora project is explicitly about open source and enencumbered 
technologies.    Check out  http://fedora.redhat.com.  :o)   Lets support
and promote truly free inovation.    Adoption from others will come 
naturally when we get closer to our goal.   Trying to force it today is 
just going to be frustrating for everyone and could very well hurt Linux.
Lets not become Linux zealots and try to force Linux on every tom dick 
and harry.    It will  happen naturally when the time is right.   We just have 
to keep making positive steps forward.   Someday all our hydrogen cars 
will have a powered by Linux sticker on them.

Cheers,
Sean.