[CS-FSLUG] Another SUSE complaint

[Nathan T.]

On 10/15/05, Don Parris <gnumathetes at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 10/15/05, Nathan T. <celerate at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 10/15/05, .mash <re.mash at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Nathan
> > >
> > > Can I ask why you don't want to just add third party apps/codecs to
> > > the free downloaded edition. I have never used SuSe but I am sure it
> can
> > > only take a couple of minutes. If you want to save money then just add
> > > what you need to the free edition.
> >
> > I would if it were easier, it's day 2 and I'm still trying to fix the
> > crippled multimedia support.
>
> Hmmmm... Should I assume that by "crippled" you mean "compared to
> Windows"? It seems like you're expecting libre software to support
> something you want out of the box, but cannot, due to license issues.
> Whose fault is that? It certainly is not the libre community's fault.
> The question is, how do you respond? You might throw in the towel
> with the weak. Or you might say, "I can endure a little pain now, so
> it will be easier in the future".


Crippled as in KDE's multimedia libraries had mp3 support built in and that
is how many of the KDE apps played mp3's. SUSE went right into the code and
disabled that part so now even though I can add back in the mad and mpg321
libraries I still can't get mp3 support in my favourite programs like juK
unless someone wants to go to the trouble of rebuilding the kde multimedia
packages for SUSE 10.0 which is not as simple as it sounds. I could
understand leaving out trivial libraries for mp3 support that could almost
painlessly be added back in, but SUSE decided to further damage the already
absent mp3 support by messing with the KDEmultimedia code for mp3 playback.

It's easy to blame the software when the law is what's messed up.
> Please understand where the real problem lies, and learn how to solve
> the problem. If you want it to work out of the box, get involved in
> some kind of activity that helps to solve it. Rosa Parks won the
> right to ride at the front of the bus because she was willing to
> endure a little aggravation and pain to get that right. You - and the
> rest of us - will need to be willing to 'suffer' a bit (probably not
> nearly as painful as the brutal beatings at Pettis Bridge in Alabama)
> to get rights/freedoms we know should be in place naturally. I know
> the Pettis Bridge incident doesn't compare to getting multimedia to
> work - that's my point. What seems frustrating to you is a little
> thing, in the big picture.


Why doesn't SUSE do the same thing Microsoft and Apple are doing and buy
licenses, for that matter didn't Fred say they already bought licenses. So
then why is mp3 support cut out completely from the KDE multimedia libraries
if RealPlayer is used for mp3 support in the free download version anyway.

Perhaps you should get involved in the movement to oppose DRM and
> other affronts to freedom. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is only
> one such group. You might find a free culture
> (http://www.freeculture.org/) student group near you. Perhaps in the
> meantime you can make some acquaintances and forge some realtionships
> with folks who are also willing to endure a little pain now. You
> might even inspire some others.


I am a subscriber to the EFF newsletter already, I have also gotten rated +5
on OSNews a few times for my comments on why Microsoft's "Trusted Computing"
initiative is bad. There isn't that much more I could do right now since I
have neither much influence or time to convince local people about why DRM
and the like are bad.
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