🚀 go-pugleaf

"netvegetable" <none@all.com> wrote in message 
news:YzCkk.25804$gg.16754@fe105.usenetserver.com...
> On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:51:28 +1000, Peter Webb wrote:
>
>> "netvegetable" <none@all.com> wrote in message
>> news:chvkk.6612$tg.621@fe119.usenetserver.com...
>>> On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:32:51 +1000, Wayne. wrote:
>>>
>>>> netvegetable wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Please return to putting up news items as mp4/wmv/mpg files.
>>>>>
>>>>> A small number of us use open source operating systems. Because we
>>>>> make this moral choice, we often don't have access to adobe flash
>>>>> software. As a consequence, we don't have access to abc online video
>>>>> and news.
>>>>>
>>>>> We may only be a minority, but we pay our taxes too. And I don't
>>>>> believe we should be penalized for our ethical stance.
>>>>>
>>>>> Please stop trying to lock us into using proprietary software. We do
>>>>> not want to be beholden to software giants like Adobe, and we do not
>>>>> believe our taxes should be going to helping foreign corporations
>>>>> like this dominate the web.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> If your 'morally' chosen OS does not have support for Flash, then
>>>> contact Adobe.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Adobe is not accountable to me. I do not pay my taxes to Adobe. Adobe
>>> is a corporation, and is quite free to just ignore me, whatever I
>>> contact them about.
>>>
>>> The ABC, on the other hand, is a public broadcaster, payed for by our
>>> taxes. And I, for one, do not believe my tax money should be helping
>>> make Adobe software the standard for viewing online content.
>>>
>>>
>> I suspect you are completely missing the point. Whilst I have not used
>> the ABC service, I would imagine that they have chosen a different
>> encoding format and proprietary viewer to stop (or limit) other people
>> from re-packaging and re-publishing ABC content as their own. Insofar as
>> the ABC owns the content they are distributing for free, this seems
>> quite reasonable. This cannot be done with mpeg or any non-proprietary
>> video format that I know of, hence the need for a proprietary format.
>
> So why do they provide wmv/mp4 vodcasts of abc programs such as lateline,
> 7.30, Q & A, and even 4corners?
>

There may be a few reasons.

Firstly, these are highly topical shows - unlike an episode of the Chaser, 
nobody is interested in one year old news. So there is less concern about 
people storing the content locally.

Secondly, these programs may be entirely owned by the ABC, without any 
rights going to a production company. The web format may well have been 
chosen to protect third-party rights.


> And even if that were the reason behind using only flv format for their
> online news, it would fail completely anyway. You can still download flv
> files with ease.
>

Download and play? Convert to mp4 and repost? If this is the case, I am 
completely wrong.


> Personally ,I suspect the only reason they're using flash video for
> online news is that it's easier to embed in a web page, and thus quicker
> and easier for people with browsers to view. And they're just too lazy to
> include vodcasts of the news items.
>

I think its a lot more about protecting themselves from YouTube. Still, if 
the flv format can be easily downloaded and converted, I may well be wrong 
...