Many people would much rather install Netscape (which they've heard of) than Firefox (which they haven't). The more people use something other than IE the better, I say.
The "stop using ActiveX and companies will stop relying on it" argument is essentially a form of activism. By not enabling ActiveX in your application, you are forcing this brand of activism on the people who use your app. So if your users don't share your way of thinking, you've lost in two ways instead of one: they're still using ActiveX, but they're using it with IE instead of a better alternative.
For Windows, I use STOIK Video Converter 2.1 (free). I use that to do a quickie conversion to uncompressed AVI or huffYUV, then other tools to convert to something else.
Like the other comments, I take issue with the summary. Prof. Richard Lindzen (MIT) and Prof. Fred Singer (US Weather Sat. Service) aren't real scientists?
As much as I believe in global warming, these "scientists" weren't force do join this society, and weren't forced to speak at this conference. Can people not meet to discuss alternative viewpoints? If they have good points, let them be heard.
I've tried it. It's based on Gentoo, and it's really rough, as well as imperfectly bi-lingual (with English as its second language). Try at your own risk.
Um, right, I wasn't arguing with that. I was pointing out that VisualRoute doesn't infringe on the current patent, and so isn't in any danger. The patent may well be invalid anyway.
XviD is an unlicensed encoder of a patented product, at least in the US and Japan, and so puts anyone who distributes movies made with it on questionable legal footing.
Just a warning: If you are distributing videos encoded with ffmpeg mp4 in the US or Japan, you are on questionable legal ground because of all the patents surrounding it. FFmpeg sure hasn't paid for licenses.
You're getting lots of Linux v. Windows replies, so I'll take a different route.
Your problem isn't that Linux doesn't let you be as productive as Windows. It's that installing Linux doesn't let you be as productive as using Windows.
If your Dell had come with Linux preinstalled and configured, it would be more productive to use that than to mess around installing Windows.
My father used to work as a prison therapist when he and my mother were short on cash. The pay was bad, and the experience was worse. He said he came home mentally weary and strung out every day after being in that place.
The prison system needs to be reformed completely. No small step like putting more therapists in the prisons will do it.
Some people (like me) have players and things that can only play mp3 or wma. A legal mp3 decoder (or even better, an encoder) makes Linux an even more attractive platform. If my trusty old Nomad Jukebox played ogg, I'd switch in a heartbeat.
There's no spyware in the Linux version. It's basically the open-source Helix player with Real's codecs thrown in. It's actually a very nice clean GTK2+ app with a Mozilla plugin. You don't even need to register to download it.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, there's the UT2003 livecd...
Yes, that's true, but having to compile everything can be annoying, and the benefit is often indistinguishable.
No, you need activex to log into their site or something,
If you don't want ActiveX, turn it off. That's not even an excuse to not use IE.
Many people would much rather install Netscape (which they've heard of) than Firefox (which they haven't). The more people use something other than IE the better, I say.
GunBound
Here's my take on this.
The "stop using ActiveX and companies will stop relying on it" argument is essentially a form of activism. By not enabling ActiveX in your application, you are forcing this brand of activism on the people who use your app. So if your users don't share your way of thinking, you've lost in two ways instead of one: they're still using ActiveX, but they're using it with IE instead of a better alternative.
For Windows, I use STOIK Video Converter 2.1 (free). I use that to do a quickie conversion to uncompressed AVI or huffYUV, then other tools to convert to something else.
Yeah, yeah. Theora will rule the world! (...or something)
I convert things to open formats on my website. I'll try to get to these tonight. Expect Theora/Vorbis.
Like the other comments, I take issue with the summary. Prof. Richard Lindzen (MIT) and Prof. Fred Singer (US Weather Sat. Service) aren't real scientists?
As much as I believe in global warming, these "scientists" weren't force do join this society, and weren't forced to speak at this conference. Can people not meet to discuss alternative viewpoints? If they have good points, let them be heard.
That's because the AFPL isn't an approved open source license.
You don't see the FSF releasing a GPL-licensed Mozilla, do you? The Mozilla license is an actual open-source license.
I've tried it. It's based on Gentoo, and it's really rough, as well as imperfectly bi-lingual (with English as its second language). Try at your own risk.
Um, right, I wasn't arguing with that. I was pointing out that VisualRoute doesn't infringe on the current patent, and so isn't in any danger. The patent may well be invalid anyway.
XviD is an unlicensed encoder of a patented product, at least in the US and Japan, and so puts anyone who distributes movies made with it on questionable legal footing.
It's also buried under a mountain of unlicensed patents, and so is pretty much illegal to use in the US and Japan.
Just a warning: If you are distributing videos encoded with ffmpeg mp4 in the US or Japan, you are on questionable legal ground because of all the patents surrounding it. FFmpeg sure hasn't paid for licenses.
Just a warning: XviD is of questionable legality in the US because of the MPEG-4 patents it uses and doesn't provide a license for.
DivX has paid up, I presume, but doesn't offer an official codec on anything but Windows and Mac.
XTraceRoute is not a firewall, so is not prior art for this patent.
VisualRoute isn't a firewall.
You're getting lots of Linux v. Windows replies, so I'll take a different route.
Your problem isn't that Linux doesn't let you be as productive as Windows. It's that installing Linux doesn't let you be as productive as using Windows.
If your Dell had come with Linux preinstalled and configured, it would be more productive to use that than to mess around installing Windows.
My father used to work as a prison therapist when he and my mother were short on cash. The pay was bad, and the experience was worse. He said he came home mentally weary and strung out every day after being in that place.
The prison system needs to be reformed completely. No small step like putting more therapists in the prisons will do it.
Some people (like me) have players and things that can only play mp3 or wma. A legal mp3 decoder (or even better, an encoder) makes Linux an even more attractive platform. If my trusty old Nomad Jukebox played ogg, I'd switch in a heartbeat.
There's no spyware in the Linux version. It's basically the open-source Helix player with Real's codecs thrown in. It's actually a very nice clean GTK2+ app with a Mozilla plugin. You don't even need to register to download it.