Re: [Fsfe-uk] BBC digital curriculum service in England

[MJ Ray]

On 2004-10-14 07:37:49 +0100 Phil Driscoll <address@hidden> 
wrote:

> We now have SVG renderers embedded into some of our desktop 
> environments, so 
> it is clear that the SVG libraries must be up to a standard where the 
> Mozilla 
> and KHTML people ought to be able to start thinking about using them.

Why is the SVG support not included in the main Mozilla builds? I 
think I remember it requiring extra libraries: are they unusual or 
large?

> In the short term, I think it would be hard to do much without 
> further 
> encouraging the use of Flash. The only current multi-platform 
> alternative 
> which can match the functionality is Java, but to implement the 
> interactive 
> stuff in Java would greatly increase the BBC's authoring costs.

I suspect the problems with encouraging Flash (the format) could be as 
bad as Microsoft formats. The specification licence at 
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/open/licensing/fileformat/license2.html 
seems to forbid its use for player development along with other 
annoying restrictions. Has anyone reverse-engineered the format?

Java was a similar plugin problem for a long time, but 
http://www.nongnu.org/gcjwebplugin/ seems to be fixing this now: still 
some way to go and they invite help, especially testers, but I expect 
Java gurus are also welcome.

--
MJR/slef    My Opinion Only and not of any group I know
 Creative copyleft computing - http://www.ttllp.co.uk/
Speaking at ESF on Sat 16 Oct - http://www.affs.org.uk/