Re: [Fwd: Re: packages license]

[Karl Trygve Kalleberg <karltk prosalg no>]

On 25 Jun 2002, Miles Lane wrote:

> On Tue, 2002-06-25 at 10:02, Karl Trygve Kalleberg wrote:
> > On 25 Jun 2002, Miles Lane wrote:
> > 
> > > What about the Crossover plugin?  People who browse the web
> > > a lot (and, as Michael Tiemann mentioned, that's most desktop
> > > users) expect to see Quicktime movies and use the MS OFfice
> > > viewers.
> > 
> > That's either nagware (unacceptable) or costs money.
> 
> Well, have we decided that this must a free OS?

No, but if it isn't, I fear we'll quickly be superceded by an initiative
that is, in true GNOME spirit.

Also, depending on how we play it, the relationship to GNOME could become
strenuous.

> If so, perhaps we could have package management
> client, like Red Carpet, the offers channels for
> proprietary purchasable software, like Crossover
> Plugin.  

That would most likely be acceptable to most parties. But charging for the
basic install CD, just because we want to include CrossOver, is something
I'd vote against.

> We are going to have trade-offs for usability.

Yes, of course. I would prefer that we in general trade immediate 
usability for long-term usability; that is, not include short-term
work-arounds like CrossOver when we could spend time fostering
free/open alternatives that would benefit us so much more in the
long-term.

> If we don't charge anything, there is complexity
> for users after installation.  That complexity
> will be a hurdle for people who want to do the
> same stuff they are used to doing with MS software.

If you want to do the same thing as you do with MS software, you will need
MS software. If you start going down that road, you quickly realise that
given the option, people will be using Outlook and MS Office, as that is
what they are used to. 

In general, the average user learn Word, Outlook and Excel, not
word-processing, mailing and spreadsheets.

If you include CrossOver into the bundle of available packages, you'll
have to include both CrossOver Office and CrossOver Plugin, which will
result in people keep using their Windows-native apps whenever possible,
simply because that's what they know.

Which brings me to the most important question of all: Do we really want
to spend our time doing support on non-free commerical software ?

There is not a snowball's chance in heck that we're going to get anywhere
unless we're willing to invest a lot of time and effort on supporting our
users. If we're not willing to let that be our top priority, this project
will remain a curious footnote in GNOME history.

As Jeff said before: There is an enormous interest in Linux on the
desktop, but no solution exists. The solution does not only mean a
self-contained install CD with a few nice-looking apps.

It means a thriving community, regular updates, available (local and
global) support and everything else that is good about the Apple world, if
we want to look at a reasonable role model. 


> I wish we could get Apple to port Quicktime to Linux. 

I think there was a mention that there will be a Linux-binary for this
soon. In the meantime, mplayer handles it nicely. If we could just add
mplayer as a GStreamer plugin, none of the media formats would ever be a
problem for us. 

> Maybe MS will be forced to release specifications for their file formats
> some day. 

That's probably the same day we get world peace :P


Karl T