[LUAU] Ubuntu... Legalities

Peter Besenbruch prb at lava.net
Tue Jun 6 10:54:23 PDT 2006


> You've just proved the validity of his analogy.  Now compute the cost of 
> installing your own codec versus buying a package with the codec 
> installed.  Be sure to include the value of your time.  You
> definitely have to "drive" a lot further when you do it yourself.

apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2

The analogy breaks down with Linux, because you get better efficiency 
with increased knowledge. As someone said, time is money, but in my 
case, if I know how to add the Marillat repository and issue the 
command, the time is minimal. With each computer I work with, the "cost" 
of increased time decreases. Ubuntu tries to achieve this efficiency 
with the Easy-Ubuntu script. The only way the car analogy works would be 
to claim that with knowledge, the distance to cheaper gas drops with 
each tank full.

Now consider the Windows side of the issue. Many new computers (but not 
all) come with some form of DVD playing software, along with the ability 
to play Windows media files. They still need to get Quicktime, and they 
need to learn to avoid Web sites that insist you download and install a 
special codec to play a requested file (spyware in disguise).

Then there is the Windows user that buys a DVD drive. He, or she, still 
needs to install the software, but with my knowledge I can do it faster 
in Linux.

Then there is the case of the person who took his laptop in for repair, 
got his drive re-imaged, and lost the ability to play DVDs. After going 
round and round  with CompUSA for months, he began looking for "free" 
players. He didn't want to spend $50 for a full version of commercial 
software. Fortunately, I warned him about spyware bundling. In the end, 
since money was tight, he elected to stop playing DVDs on his laptop.

Now before you ask where his restore disks were, he had them. All he had 
to do was copy his data to a CD-R, restore the system, re-install his 
other software (he managed to keep MOST of the relevant CDs), and 
restore his data. Unfortunately, he lost the ability to burn CDs when 
CompUSA did the re-imaging.

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