Call me paranoid, but I think when something as drastic as blocking Sourceforge happens, Slashdot is in danger as well! I would expect Sourceforge to be the last of all the OSDN sites blocked - it's not opinionated (*cough*), and provides hosting for tons of open source software projects.
About the Apple being a bad/evil company, I only threw that in there because I've seen people say it. They have their reasons - look around on some of the apple threads at apple.slashdot.org.
As for the video players/codecs... Linux does have the ability to play most formats/codecs through its two main video players: Xine and MPlayer. I am not sure about the features of Xine (besides that it has a nice GUI and plays DVD's), but MPlayer will play almost anything you throw at it: AVI (using native and Windows dll's), MPEG, and even Quicktime.
However, a few things need to be noted about Quicktime support. First, Xine was the first program to have it - they deserve the credit for that. Second, in both implementations, only Sorenson v1 is supported.
Most current quicktime videos are encoded with Sorenson v3, which is not supported.
I think you missed my point. One of the common arguments that quicktime is bad (and that the slashdot crew are hypocrites, supposedly) is that "we all use linux (or like it), and there's no Quicktime for linux". Or at least that because the slashdot crew have a tendancy to endorse (if not use) linux, most slashdotters find it hypocritical for them to use Quicktime if it's not available on Linux.
Since you sound like a newbie, I'll explain it for you. I'll try to be as unbiased and non-opinionated as possible.
Basically, the slashdot community (not as a whole, but large portions of it) dislike Apple and or Quicktime and or Sorenson for one of the following reasons:
1) Apple is a bad/evil company, and we don't like them. 2) We don't have Quicktime on Linux, and a few of us use linux while many of us talk about it. 3) We don't have the Sorenson codec in any other players, so the Quicktime player is required, but isn't on linux (see #2).
Therefore, it becomes cool to shun Quicktime, or to be proud of not using it.
Does this explain the obvious Diablo influence on Warcraft III (Heroes with experience, skills based on experience, auras, inventories with very similar items, etc)?
I guess it would... I always thought they simply put some of the Diablo II design team to work on Warcraft III, until I read this post.
I don't think you can compare Blizzard cutscenes to real CGI movies... except maybe their newest creation, Warcraft III. The cutscenes in Starcraft are rediculously cartoonish, and those in Diablo II, while better, are still not up to par.
If you haven't seen Warcraft III yet (though by the content of your post, it sounds like you have)... buy it when it comes out! It's awesome.
Better yet, just look at their trailers on Blizzard's web site.
I disagree - a high quality VCD is as good as broadcast quality. And the ability to watch it on a DVD is a big plus. Only problem is, you're limited to the space on a CD - about 74 or 80 minutes. That's only enough for two one-hour episodes, and that's with commercials, credits, and opening scenes cut out.
Considering the federal laws passed recently, stealing bandwidth probably counts as some form of Terrorism these days. I'd bet that they could be charged with Computer Terrorism or something.
This is one thing that annoys me about the War on Terrorism - although the real terrorists don't even use electricity, much less computers, 31337 Hackers (and even more harmless people) get called Terrorists just so that the Feds can kill two birds with one stone.
Fine then. You've made your point. I didn't realize you could dual-boot more than one MacOS at once (I thought only OS X could run OS 9 in "Classic" mode, rather than boot them separately). Considering that, it's probably a multi-boot setup.
I can tell you what he means - he is running the Operating System known as Debian GNU/Linux.
Fairly simple, eh?
As for whether he's got it in a multiboot configuration (by that I assume you mean dual-boot)... why would that matter? Obviously I don't know, so you'll have to wait for him to reply...
I have to second this... when reading the story, I immediately thought, "VLC has a Mac version, don't they?" VLC is the best streaming media player I've used, because they remain dedicated to an open source, cross platform streaming media solution.
My only question is whether it can be used to play back the MPEG-2 streams we're talking about... I don't know whether they stream over HTTP or not.
Actually, WindowMaker is hugely bloated. Since you say you're running it... check out the RAM usage some time. Then compare that to, say, IceWM. Or Blackbox.;)
Now it doesn't look so un-bloated, eh? It all depends on what you're comparing it to. Compared to KDE or Gnome, I'll admit, it's far less bloated.
Then how is it costing "the U.S. economy $60 billion a year"? That implies that our economy is losing $60 billion somehow. The entire economy. As in, Argentina is getting that $60 billion in the form of economic aid?
I don't know, IANAE (economist). But it seems the way that the report was phrased directly contradicts your post.
Now that I consider it, it seems quite likely that this could have an effect on open-source software.
Much of the open-source software is coded by employees of corporations. Those corporations have very restrictive policies concerning intellectual property - effectively, everything you think of while working there is their property.
What effect might developers' previous experience and thoughts have on open source software, and can it be in legal trouble because of this?
It would be a tragedy to lose many corporate free-time developers because of corporate-owned IP.
Why would you use Cinepak? Isn't it a much lower-quality codec? There should be some sort of QuickTime encoder on the PC... if there isn't, it's a shame. One should be able to go straight to QuickTime MPEG-4.
Slashdot Mirror
... before Slashdot is blocked at work too!
Call me paranoid, but I think when something as drastic as blocking Sourceforge happens, Slashdot is in danger as well! I would expect Sourceforge to be the last of all the OSDN sites blocked - it's not opinionated (*cough*), and provides hosting for tons of open source software projects.
Sad, sad day for the internet.
About the Apple being a bad/evil company, I only threw that in there because I've seen people say it. They have their reasons - look around on some of the apple threads at apple.slashdot.org.
As for the video players/codecs... Linux does have the ability to play most formats/codecs through its two main video players: Xine and MPlayer. I am not sure about the features of Xine (besides that it has a nice GUI and plays DVD's), but MPlayer will play almost anything you throw at it: AVI (using native and Windows dll's), MPEG, and even Quicktime.
However, a few things need to be noted about Quicktime support. First, Xine was the first program to have it - they deserve the credit for that. Second, in both implementations, only Sorenson v1 is supported.
Most current quicktime videos are encoded with Sorenson v3, which is not supported.
Xine only plays Sorenson v1; most clips these days are encoded with Sorenson v3, and Xine cannot play those. Nor can mplayer (which can also play v1).
Also, the sound cannot be decoded by Xine in more modern clips for the same reason.
I think you missed my point. One of the common arguments that quicktime is bad (and that the slashdot crew are hypocrites, supposedly) is that "we all use linux (or like it), and there's no Quicktime for linux". Or at least that because the slashdot crew have a tendancy to endorse (if not use) linux, most slashdotters find it hypocritical for them to use Quicktime if it's not available on Linux.
Since you sound like a newbie, I'll explain it for you. I'll try to be as unbiased and non-opinionated as possible.
:)
Basically, the slashdot community (not as a whole, but large portions of it) dislike Apple and or Quicktime and or Sorenson for one of the following reasons:
1) Apple is a bad/evil company, and we don't like them.
2) We don't have Quicktime on Linux, and a few of us use linux while many of us talk about it.
3) We don't have the Sorenson codec in any other players, so the Quicktime player is required, but isn't on linux (see #2).
Therefore, it becomes cool to shun Quicktime, or to be proud of not using it.
Please don't make me say all that again.
-- Reverius
Does this explain the obvious Diablo influence on Warcraft III (Heroes with experience, skills based on experience, auras, inventories with very similar items, etc)?
I guess it would... I always thought they simply put some of the Diablo II design team to work on Warcraft III, until I read this post.
I don't think you can compare Blizzard cutscenes to real CGI movies... except maybe their newest creation, Warcraft III. The cutscenes in Starcraft are rediculously cartoonish, and those in Diablo II, while better, are still not up to par.
If you haven't seen Warcraft III yet (though by the content of your post, it sounds like you have)... buy it when it comes out! It's awesome.
Better yet, just look at their trailers on Blizzard's web site.
I think he meant under OS X. That was the topic, wasn't it? If you're using an iBook, I think it's implied that you're using OS X.
So now web code doesn't have to be clean?
Guess I can turn off "use strict" in my perl CGI.
Last time I checked, MAME was not a business. They're just a bunch of software coders trying to give the world something for free.
Kinda like linux, but more game-oriented.
They're not a bunch of money-grubbing capitalist emulator developers, trying to "piggyback on top of MS's sales."
I disagree - a high quality VCD is as good as broadcast quality. And the ability to watch it on a DVD is a big plus. Only problem is, you're limited to the space on a CD - about 74 or 80 minutes. That's only enough for two one-hour episodes, and that's with commercials, credits, and opening scenes cut out.
Considering the federal laws passed recently, stealing bandwidth probably counts as some form of Terrorism these days. I'd bet that they could be charged with Computer Terrorism or something.
This is one thing that annoys me about the War on Terrorism - although the real terrorists don't even use electricity, much less computers, 31337 Hackers (and even more harmless people) get called Terrorists just so that the Feds can kill two birds with one stone.
"sign my Microsoft"...
Are you saying that you 0wnZ Micro$oft???
Fine then. You've made your point. I didn't realize you could dual-boot more than one MacOS at once (I thought only OS X could run OS 9 in "Classic" mode, rather than boot them separately). Considering that, it's probably a multi-boot setup.
I can tell you what he means - he is running the Operating System known as Debian GNU/Linux.
Fairly simple, eh?
As for whether he's got it in a multiboot configuration (by that I assume you mean dual-boot)... why would that matter? Obviously I don't know, so you'll have to wait for him to reply...
I have to second this... when reading the story, I immediately thought, "VLC has a Mac version, don't they?" VLC is the best streaming media player I've used, because they remain dedicated to an open source, cross platform streaming media solution.
My only question is whether it can be used to play back the MPEG-2 streams we're talking about... I don't know whether they stream over HTTP or not.
Actually, WindowMaker is hugely bloated. Since you say you're running it... check out the RAM usage some time. Then compare that to, say, IceWM. Or Blackbox. ;)
Now it doesn't look so un-bloated, eh? It all depends on what you're comparing it to. Compared to KDE or Gnome, I'll admit, it's far less bloated.
Then how is it costing "the U.S. economy $60 billion a year"? That implies that our economy is losing $60 billion somehow. The entire economy. As in, Argentina is getting that $60 billion in the form of economic aid?
I don't know, IANAE (economist). But it seems the way that the report was phrased directly contradicts your post.
Great merciful Sauron! I have been discovered! Looks like I'll have to post about something else in every thread, from now on.
Seriously, was that supposed to be funny?
The chances of this succeeding sound slim to me... maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but budgets for space projects have been small lately.
Seems that in this type of economy, interesting government-funded space and scientific projects are the first to be cut...
Now that I consider it, it seems quite likely that this could have an effect on open-source software.
Much of the open-source software is coded by employees of corporations. Those corporations have very restrictive policies concerning intellectual property - effectively, everything you think of while working there is their property.
What effect might developers' previous experience and thoughts have on open source software, and can it be in legal trouble because of this?
It would be a tragedy to lose many corporate free-time developers because of corporate-owned IP.
Actually, that's the wireless world and the "real world"...
Why would you use Cinepak? Isn't it a much lower-quality codec? There should be some sort of QuickTime encoder on the PC... if there isn't, it's a shame. One should be able to go straight to QuickTime MPEG-4.
Maybe I'm just an idealist.
Supposedly Quicktime 6 supports MPEG-4... but that is presumably in the QuickTime file format.
Any word on whether it will play back MPEG-4 movies in the AVI file format (aka DivX 4 and 5, OpenDivx, etc)? Those are quite common, and I have many.
I'd like to use the QuickTime player rather than the WindowsMedia player on Windows, and this support would allow me to do that...
Yes, I have read about this. I plan on using it when Woody is released ;)
I didn't include it in my post because it is not actually released yet (Woody, anyway, I don't know about the installer).