From: "Sean Estabrooks" <seanlkml@xxxxxxxxxxxx> > On Mon, 24 May 2004 07:17:24 -0500 > "Benjamin J. Weiss" <benjamin@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > From: "Davy Brion" <ralinx@xxxxxxxxxx> > > > 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. > > > > Case in point: Betamax VCR's versus VHS. Beta was better, but people > > didn't switch because they already had VHS... > > > > Ben > > Case in point. People switch to DVD because it's better. Even though > it's not compatible with their current technology. > True, but that's because the public perceived a significant improvement in value. There wasn't enough percieved improvement in value from VHS to Beta, so even though it was a superior format, most people didn't switch. Where is it now? I can still go down to Blockbuster and rent a VHS tape, but not a Beta. I'd hate for Linux to suffer the same fate as Betamax. DVD had many benefits over VHS. Better quality picture, you don't have to rewind, you can watch a bunch of times without degrading the movie, you get lots of featurettes, etc. That's why it succeeded, because the user saw all of the cool new things that they would get. They don't care about the under-the-hood stuff on how the laser works, or what the file format is, and they sure don't want to have to re-program the DVD player every six months. Don't get me wrong. I love linux. I just don't want to see Bill Gates do to us what he did to OS/2 (which was also superior to Windows). Ben
