[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: Linux article

[Lance Simmons]

* Steve Baker <sjbaker1 at airmail.net> [040704 21:22]:
> 
> 1) Consequences of closed data formats:  For example, I cannot watch
> many video's on web sites that are using .wmf rather than
> .mpg/.mov/.avi or whatever.  There really isn't much the OpenSource
> world can do about this - but if Linux somehow magically had more
> desktop users, market pressures would force more people to publish
> stuff in Open formats.

Mplayer can play many formats, including many .wmf files, but the
history of the mplayer code is suspect enough that it can't be
considered (by Debian's standards, anyway) to be free software.

As more GNU/Linux desktops come online, should we expect more content to
be published in open formats, or should we expect more clever
mplayer-like work-arounds that may not really be free?

-- 
Lance Simmons