On Mon, 2005-04-18 at 17:59 -0600, kwhiskers wrote: > I am glad to hear that the GPL can act as a kind of safeguard for > keeping Linux free. I am definitely sold on the idea of free software, > free books, free art, free music, etc, to permit everyone access to > electronic media without disenfranchisement based on income or lack of > financial resources. > > I would gladly convert my mp3 files, but there are thousands, and > apart from the time it would take, there is also the concern that > there would be a loss of quality through the conversion. But mostly, I > am worried that, were I to convert to ogg vorbis and theora, I could > not share files with friends. > ogg is becoming more prevalent and I have even heard of some portable players that will play them. Converting mp3s to some other format usually _does_ result in loss of quality. > I have raved about Linux, but I can't get anyone interested. Even the > fact that I need spend no money and have years ago deleted all > bootlegged software and all the cracks necessary to keep it running > makes no difference. People think that Linux would be a hardship > (true, it does cost me a lot of time). They would rather break the > law, shell out hundreds, or continue to use Windows 98! They say: I > have to have Word; I have to have Nero burning cdrom (mostly in order > to make illegal copies, why else?), etc. (Well, I admit I do like > Corel Photopaint - I'm still using #9). > I still use PhotoShop 5.5 and Corel 8, so you have newer software than I do. > These people do have a valid point, but only because proprietary > formats are so ubiquitous. I have noticed that, as fantastic as > Koffice, Abiword and Open Office are, Powerpoint presentations don't > display properly in them (sometimes one can get them to display as > separate pages, but often either the text, images, sometimes both, are > missing). Also, Excel files will usually display, but they rarely > perform the calculations from cell to cell. Sometimes a Word document > will either not open, or more frequently, the tables, image > positioning, etc are all messed up. Even editing web pages made with > Front Page are a nightmare to edit in Quanta or Mozilla Composer. The > conversions just don't work 100%, except for the most basic of files. > The later versions of OO do well for me with .doc files. I have not tried excel or powerpoint file. That is the reason AFAICT that M$ frequently changes the file formats, so others cannot keep up and make free software that is compatible with their files..... Thus locking their users into using M$ products. > This is not a huge problem for me, but once when filling out a lengthy > questionnaire in Open Office, I had to admit defeat. The lines and > page formatting got all screwed up, symbols changed and so did > colours, and in the end, to my chagrin, I had to do it all over again > in Windows. It was exasperating. > True, but crossover office and wine allow a LOT of M$ compatible software to run on Linux. > Linux works for me, but only because I don't need to share much > information, files, etc. I don't write documents or make image > presentations. My primary output is exclusively for me. The few things > I need to send out go in the form of emails, hence are platform > independent. > I, Literally, only use M$ operating system for one thing - game playing - and with transgaming out there I am even getting away from it there as well. > Well, I guess I have gotten off topic, but I do hope that, if > anything, Linux can have an impact on the use of standard file formats > for the sharing of information. > > On 4/18/05, Felipe Alfaro Solana <lkml@xxxxxxx> wrote: > On 18 Apr 2005, at 17:44, kwhiskers wrote: > > > And that brings up another thought: will Linux remain free > for the > > future? Already, there are vultures hawking isos burnt to CD > and some > > distros that offer 'premium' versions for pay. Is it only a > matter of > > time before Linux becomes the next Windows, where the > consumer must > > pay an annual update fee in order to stay on top of the > innovations? > > I don't think so... I guess there will still be GPLed software > for a > very long time. > > > -- > fedora-list mailing list > fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx > To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
