The Multimedia Question

[Greg Dekoenigsberg]

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007, Luis Villa wrote:

>> Firmware is also something that should've been done on the hardware in a
>> perfect world, WMV support is a little different.
>
> It really isn't that different; hardware I can't boot is only
> minimally different from hardware I can boot but can't use with the
> data I need/want to access.
>
> And whether or not firmware is software or not is completely, totally 
> irrelevant; it is modifiable and it impacts how people control and use 
> their computers and their data. That makes it a freedom issue. You can 
> hide it under semantic blankets if it makes you feel better, but you 
> *have* made a strategic compromise of user freedom in order to help 
> users.

Ayup.

> The sooner you figure out how to draw real and meaningful boundaries
> around that compromise instead of bullshit like 'it isn't software, so
> therefore it is alright', the better off we'll all be. As soon as you
> have *meaningful* lines instead of semantic hedges, you can actually
> start to answer questions about things like codecs in a meaningful
> way, instead of having a dramatic and surreal dance around the issues
> every time it comes up, as it is about to (again) around non-free web
> services, and already has with drivers, firmware, codecs, etc., etc.

Ayup.

So it seems to me that the die is cast for Fedora.  It seems to me that 
we've backed ourselves into this funky "it's totally free (except where it 
isn't)" corner with Fedora.

And if that's the case, my next question will be, "what entity will take 
the Fedora base and create a compelling/compromising user experience with 
it"?  Because that way, we don't even have to bother answering questions 
like the proprietary codecs question.  We can just proclaim, once and for 
all, that IN FEDORA, USERS ARE IMPORTANT, BUT SOFTWARE FREEDOM IS MORE 
IMPORTANT, and call it a day.

And you know what?  I believe that's okay.  I believe that's why we built 
the Fedora packaging universe the way we built it.  I believe that Fedora 
is relatively holy ground -- but I also believe that we should be 
encouraging the heretics.  Because that allows Fedorans to focus on things 
like Gnash and Ogg, and actual desktop usability issues that have nothing 
to do with codecs, and we can work on these issues *without compromise* -- 
but we can encourage some other, hopefully friendly, third parties to do 
all the dirty stuff that we won't do with Fedora.  Maybe that third party 
is rpmfusion.  Maybe it's Red Hat working with Fluendo on a desktop 
product.  But if it's not going to be Fedora, then let's say it's not 
going to be Fedora, make CodecBuddy a purely educational tool, and move 
on.

--g

-- 
Greg DeKoenigsberg
Community Development Manager
Red Hat, Inc. :: 1-919-754-4255
"To whomsoever much hath been given...
...from him much shall be asked"