🚀 go-pugleaf

Horry wrote:
> On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:50:16 +0000, 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.
> 
> The ABC isn't "trying" to lock you into using proprietary software. It's 
> simply providing what the vast majority of the public wants -- that is, 
> news in a format that is compatible with the software pre-installed on 
> their computers.

There are a couple of things wrong with your statement:

How do you know what the public wants? And it's not that simple anyway - 
at the time that I buy a $500 linux PC, it's unlikely that I'll be 
thinking about the ABC's file formats. However my experience will be 
ruined when I discover it later.

On the other hand, fat PCs *do* support mp4/mpg files, so the ABC can 
reach a greater audience by adhering to open standards.

Producing content in flash is like publishing music in Apple's 
proprietary AC3 format. It locks us in to overhyped, overpriced, 
non-standard devices - and you can see the effect, a standard MP3 player 
costs around $20 whereas an iPOD costs around three times that *and* it 
won't play MP3.

The public wants functionality - and the public wants competition. 
Proprietary formats eliminate competition.


> 
>> 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.
> 
> Unfortunately for you, there probably aren't enough voters/tax-payers who 
> feel the same way.

Probably? Did you take a poll?


> 
> Has the ABC given a reason for stopping providing news items in MP4/WMV/
> MPG formats?  And isn't WMV also a proprietary format?