Re: Mplayer Bonoboized: lumiere (gstreamer - standardization)

[Jeffrey Goddard <moosewood mooseroot org>]

> I think duplication at the desktop level is the same kind of problem, but a
> smaller one in some areas, and a larger one in others. I think it is a
> smaller problem in that there are only two "major" desktops with their own
> widget sets and libraries, whereas there are many more than two media
> players with different frameworks. Putting together a system that runs the
> maximum number of graphical applications is a matter of installing two
> desktops.

Actually, I don't believe this to be the case. I use KDE and do all of my 
developement work in GTK+. All of the Gnome apps I use (Gnumeric pops to 
mind) work great. I just had to load the proper libraries. But this is true 
of any application that makes use of a library that is not installed in your 
system. Or .dll files in the M$ Win environment. And personally, I believe 
that maximum amounts of diversity are great for the user base. I have quite a 
number of applications on my system which do the same job, generally with 
about the same results. The one I use depends on the mood I'm in. As for a 
centralized framework for multimedia apps, you're trying to take the approach 
of "being everything to everyone". I have never seen any, repeat any, 
application, system, process, etc. where this works very well. It usually 
ends up being a complete cluster <exp delete>. Witness M$ windows. It does 
everything half-arsed, and nothing well.
My little rant on the subject,
Jeffrey