Re: [Gnash-dev] Re: [Gnash] 0.8.2 status & OLPC

[John Gilmore]

>    Personally, many of the reported problems are all because the OLPC 
> project can't ship the codecs Gnash needs. I am so sick of the codec 
> issue I can barely talk. If the OLPC project can't ship the codecs Gnash 
> needs, then screw it, ship Adobe, and don't bother those of use trying 
> to fix the problem. I tried to talk them into adding Codec Buddy from 
> Fedora to solve this problem with zero success.

Sorry, Rob; I know the codec software patent issue is painful bullshit
that nobody should have to deal with.  Since it's government-imposed
bullshit, I think it falls into the "taxes" part of the unavoidable
"death and taxes".

Having just done front-line support for OLPC, how about a suggestion then:

  When there's a codec issue, put up a message, in the web page display,
  that says it's a codec issue.  Don't just end up with a grey
  rectangle.  If you want to be fancy, say which codec is being used
  that we don't support, and why we don't support it.

At the moment all that most people know is, "It doesn't work."  They
direct their frustration at OLPC, Browse, or Gnash because that's
what's in front of them.  If we took the trouble to tell them, "This
video won't display because the corrupt US government issued patent
123,456,797 on codec C and the company is demanding X cents per flash
player, which we haven't paid", a much more informed discussion could
take place.  And the gnash team could tell the codec problems from the
real ActionScript implementation bugs.  

And maybe after OLPC saw this, they would let you add a "Click here if
you're European and have sane laws about software patents" link, which
would install the proper codec.

        John

PS: OLPC can't ship Adobe flash; they don't have a license to do so.
The one you download from the Adobe website doesn't come with
permission to share it.  Maybe they could get one by negotiation; but
they prefer to stand in solidarity with the free software community.

PPS: The target audience of G1G1 was kids, many of whom seem to be in
thrall to the webkinz.com brightly colored pyramid scheme.  Here's an
excerpt from one support ticket, after they installed Adobe Flash with
help from a techie friend, but didn't figure out how to uninstall
gnash: "No resolution. I am waiting and hoping you can get someone to
'add a very simple walk-through', as you have stated below. My
daughter does not want to use her XO since she is unable to get into
Webkins and Learning Today."  I tried it; the homepage works, but
clicking "New Member" leads to a Flash "Loading..." page that never
goes away.  If this is a Flash version issue, hey, how about Gnash putting
up a message about *that* very common problem, too?