Re: Re: lessig.org site supporting Adobe's proprietary Flash format

I've been exploring this question in some depth now, talking both to  
the Miro team (which is building a free, cross-codec player) and  
blip.tv. It seems things are not as simple as this would make it seem.

First, Richard earlier urged me to make sure I was converting to  
Theora with the original video, to make sure the quality was good. But  
the problem with quality on Theora is not related to the source. It is  
related to the poor quality of the Theora codec. That is one reason  
many aren't using it.

A second, more significant to the free world, is that many in the  
community believe that Theora is in fact patent incumbered; that the  
owners of the patent are simply waiting till it becomes a standard  
before they pounce. This is slowing the spread of the codec.

Third, for Theora to work in the way Flash is, people would be using a  
Java Theora player, which itself is extremely buggy. That makes  
deploying it in an environment like blip.tv difficult.

Fourth, blip.tv is in principle eager to facilitate transcoding to the  
theora codec. But the last time they checked, only 10-15% of the files  
were transcoding properly using the existing free software that  
supports it. Were that software better, I'm sure they would at least  
enable automatic conversion of everything to Theora. And were the Java  
player better, they'd be able to enable that as the default for  
playback.

In light of this, it seems to me it would be useful for there to be a  
conversation facilitated between the Free Software community, and  
Blip.tv/Theora/Miro. For in my view, the real long term solution here  
is that free software enable the same crucially important (to freedom)  
functionality that is now being enabled by non-free software and  
codecs. Miro has all but given up on free codecs just now -- focusing  
on free players instead. And while Blip.tv would love to make it part  
of their core, the quality is just not there. Some constructive  
encouragement from the leader of the free software community might  
well induce the right kind of development here. I'm of course not such  
a leader, but I'd be happy to connect Richard or whomever to the  
people at blip.tv and Miro to initiate that conversation.


On Feb 28, 2008, at 9:30 AM, Lee Braiden wrote:

> On Wednesday 27 February 2008 16:07:38 Richard Stallman wrote:
>>    Links to the mpeg4 and Theora files are immediately below the  
>> flash
>>    version. they both immediately download the file.
>>
>> How about putting the Theora version first?
>> That is the way to show you are really in favor of it.
>>
>
> This was my thinking too.  If one format has advantages for users,  
> and others
> have disadvantages or is associated with an old or ill-conceived way  
> of doing
> things, I think it's only right that the better format should be  
> promoted,
> and the lesser formats should be demoted to a "backwards  
> compatibility"
> or "legacy" page.  And I think that'd be nice terminology to use  
> too, to
> convey the message to the average user clearly.
>
>
> -- 
> Lee

-----
Lessig
Stanford Law School
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Stanford, CA  94305-8610
650.736.0999 (vx)
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Ass't: Elaine Adolfo <mailto:[email protected]>