Why is Fedora a multimedia disaster? - Here is why.

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Valent Turkovic wrote:
>> I guess I am missing something here - why would you be trying to
>> explain file extensions to them in the first place? Would they be
>> reading the file extension, or looking at the file icon to tell them
>> what the file is?
> 
> Although I respect your opinion, I believe that it's just the other
> way around. Majority of people now what an .avi file is when they see
> it as an extension, also is true for .mp3
> 
With .mp3 files, maybe, because of all the MP3 players sold. Though
I have to wonder how many people make the connection between an MP3
file and the .mp3 extension. I know too many Windows users that the
only time they might notice a file extension is if it is an e-mail
attachment. As others have stated, Windows does not show them by
default, so all they go by is the icon.

Now, .avi files are a mess... You have to know what is inside before
you can decide if you can play it. (.avi is not really a multi-media
format - it is a container for other multi-media formats.) To make
things more interesting, you may be able to play the audio, and not
the video, the video, and not the audio, or both, depending on how
they are encoded, and the codex you have installed on your system.
This is true regardless of the OS involved.

Maybe tying file types to extensions is inevitable, because it makes
the code to determine what to do with a file you click on easier.
But think of the flexibility if you can select what application is
launched based on mime-type instead. We already have this in our web
browsers, at least when the correct content type is sent. We have
file viewers and A/V players that use mime-type to decide how to
handle a file send to them. Why not file manages that do the same?

Now, there are a couple of problems here - there are some file types
where there isn't a "magic number" to determine the mime-type. How
do you tell the difference between a C source file, a header file,
and a plain text file? So you might have to use extensions there.
(If you want to open all three in the same editor, then it isn't a
problem...)

Mikkel
-- 

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!