[luau] version question

[Warren Togami]

> 2 questions, really.
>
> 1. I'm primarily a Redhat user.  Every once in a while, I upgrade,
> usually about 3-6 months after a new release has come out.  And I have
> multiple machines, so I have the convenience of upgrading them one at a
> time, so while my primary machine is still running 7.3, I have a couple
> other machines that are running 9.
>      The problem I'm running into, is that for me, 9 seems really
> different to 7.3.  A lot of the tools I was used to using in 7.3 (like
> Xconfigurator or gnorpm for instance, I've had problems with the similar
> programs that come with 8) aren't there in 9 (or maybe I'm just stupid
> and can't find them).
>      Then there's the loss of functionality.  RH9 seems completely
> devoid of the ability to play mpeg files.  It kind of blew me away.

MPEG and MP3s are protected by patents, meaning anybody that distributes
software using these patented methods are supposed to be paying royalties.
 Red Hat's lawyers, as an american corporation, decided that it would be
far too risky to continue distributing that software for that reason. 
(read below before being upset)

>      So how are you supposed to cope?  I'm really busy doing stuff.  It
> seems kind of unreasonable to force me to learn a bunch of new programs
> (some of which I like a lot less) just to upgrade everything.

All of your needs are served by using automatic package management tools
like apt-get or yum and one or more 3rd party repositories.  By using
these 3rd party repositories you gain not only automatic download &
install of RH's normal packages and errata updates, but also
hundreds/thousands of additional packages made by community volunteers
specifically to work on that versoin of Red Hat Linux.

Look for xine and mplayer packages in these 3rd party repositories.  They
have far more functionality than the almost useless and crippled xine that
used to ship with RH 7.3.

Unfortunately you are expected to follow laws within your jurisdiction.
Those very just laws are made to protect American business interests, thus
we shouldn't be  upset that it is illegal for us to do these activities on
the Linux platform.  We should follow the easy path and use only Windows
(or Mac) if we want an acceptable computing experience.

Don't question these laws either.  Be sheep just like the rest of us. 
Don't care or read about issues like this: http://swpat.ffii.org/

Europe should join America in the great corporate benefits of overbroad
and intentionally vague patents.  They afterall are all about innovation
and protecting the right of inventors to profit, and are never stifling of
research and abusive of free market compeition.  Copyright of a specific
implementation in source code alone is not enough to ensure
anti-competitive exclusionary protection and lock others from the market. 
No sir.

Warren