[Techtalk] I want Tux Racer dangit

[Carla Schroder]

On Monday 11 November 2002 14:19, Kai MacTane wrote:
> At 11/11/02 01:41 PM , Caitlyn M. Martin wrote:
> > > I like RH8 as desktop Linux, it does the boring stuff like
> > > email/web/type letters/spreadsheets etc quite ably. However they did
> > > break some things: first there was the locale issue, now I'm bumping
> > > into problems caused by their removing mp3. The reasons sound good, but
> > > it leaves us poor users in a bit of a pickle.
> > > http://www.redhat.com/advice/speaks_80mm.html
> >
> >Don't blame Red Hat for that.  Blame the RIAA and the various patent and
> >copyright holders for the problem here.  Red Hat is covering themselves
> >legally.  Again, I think they are doing the smart thing.
>
> Given the new licensing on mp3 decoding, I'd agree -- among other things,
> RH's expenses would climb noticeably if they had to pay for every mp3
> decoder shipped.
>
> I find the phrasing and style of the page referenced above quite
> refreshing. I'm still not interested in switching back to Red Hat, because
> I disagree with the direction they're taking their distro in (it seems
> targeted more for "Linux newbies", which is a very valid market segment,
> but *not* one that I'm in!). But, I'm quite pleased to see that they're not
> "going all corporate"; that page explains in nice, plain English where
> they're coming from, why they're doing what they're doing, and what you can
> do if you want something different. It even puts in a plug for Ogg!
>

Good points, and I have no problem with Red Hat for exorcising mp3 code. but 
what is the poor end luser supposed to do? The point of buying a packaged 
distribution is to be relieved of aggravation, not to get more! It's a 
different world than server and networking.

-- 
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Carla Schroder
Bratgrrl Computing
www.bratgrrl.com
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