Re: Mplayer Bonoboized: lumiere (gstreamer)

[Andy Tai <lichengtai yahoo com>]

This is natural for Free Software, that there are
multiple solutions.  The existences of GNOME and KDE
are one example.  Multiple media frameworks is a small
matter comparing to the "duplication" at the desktop
level.

However, one has to wonder how much mplayer takes away
from gstreamer.  Mplayer actually is a good example of
using multiple codecs available on GNU/Linux, and
gstreamer actually share some of the same codecs
(ffmpeg).  In Free Software, sharing occurs naturally.
 Multiple efforts do not necessary lead to waste.
MPlayer wraps around many codec interfaces.  Same for
gstreamer.

Besides, mplayer and gstreamer are really independent
projects.  Existence of a mplayer bonobo component
really takes no resource away from gstreamer.


--- ' ' <tint14 hotmail com> wrote:
> I have mixed feelings about this announcement
> However, when there are 
> multiple multimedia backends (e.g. xine-libs,
> gstreamer, lumiere, etc...) 
> instead of a single multimedia framework (e.g.
> directshow), the developer 
> base is fractured.
>
> This is bad for the user. When one backend is
> patched, only the apps that 
> use that particular backend benefit. Other apps are
> still "broken" or 
> "behind".
>
> This is bad for the developer. If one backend adds a
> capability that a 
> developer wants and she is using a different backend
> it her app, she has to 
> learn, all over again, how to use a new multimedia
> backend if she wants that 
> capability.
>
> This is bad for third party codec developers. 
>
> Eric

=====
Andy Tai, atai atai org
Free Software: the software by the people, of the people and for the people! Develop! Share! Enhance! Enjoy!