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View Full Version : Should Ubuntu/Canonical sponsor Theora development?



JuanC
March 1st, 2006, 11:10 PM
I'm not any official Ubuntu/Canonical member , I'm only a user.

Since I try Ubuntu i forget mp3 and use ogg vorbis.

It's very easy to encode and the quality is the same as mp3 and also it's a free codec.

I like the idea of patent-free codecs , so i search for a patent-free codec video and i find Theora.

But with Theora i don't see any easy and visual tool to convert/encode files to Theora , i'm doing test with ffmpeg2theora and VLC.

And also see that Theora development is very slow , i think this project needs more resources.

I think Ubuntu/Canonical should sponsor Theora development.

Bragador
March 1st, 2006, 11:17 PM
It's not a bad idea and theora does need a lot of money. The xiph fondation is greatly occupied with contracts to make their product compatible with lot's of things from the rumors I saw n the net.

The vorbis project hasn't been improved since forever. Version 1.1.2 was made available thanks to another independant project that tests ways to improve the codecs.

More money to them = more employees.

On the other hand... maybe some people do not want to support the project and only want their money to be available for Ubuntu...

But for the xiph fondation support, I say why not.

gord
March 1st, 2006, 11:23 PM
theora is a little big baggaged by the fact that the technique for encoding comes from another company that have just agree'd not to take any legal action against anyone else, also ubuntu isn't about encoding/decoding video technologys, there are many more people who would be more suited to helping develop theora. ubuntu should stick to what it does best.

Bragador
March 1st, 2006, 11:27 PM
I think a better poll would be if we should sponsor the xiph foudation instead of only theora.

Malphas
March 1st, 2006, 11:47 PM
I'm more hopeful of Snow, Tarkin and Dirac than Theora. A high quality and completely free video codec would definitely be a good thing to have though, although I'm not sure what Ubuntu's place within that is.

poofyhairguy
March 2nd, 2006, 01:26 AM
I vote no....

Ubuntu has only so many resources and helping Theora might not be the best use of them. Theora needs to find some way to magically be able to compete with other codecs in its market (as it is behind) and I don't think Ubuntu alone can do that.

sup
March 2nd, 2006, 03:38 AM
But with Theora i don't see any easy and visual tool to convert/encode files to Theora , i'm doing test with ffmpeg2theora and VLC.
There is Thoggen, it is not stable yet and support only DVD backups, but it can encode into Theora and seems pretty easy to me (have not tried actual encoding though)

Jucato
March 2nd, 2006, 03:58 AM
I also voted no. Not because I don't believe in Theora, but that this isn't something that Ubuntu or Canonical should tackle, at least not alone. It should be something that the whole open source community should backup. But for Canonical to sponsor it alone might be a bit too much, even for Mark's pockets.

Lovechild
March 2nd, 2006, 09:10 AM
I voted yes, not specfically for Theora, which incidently is a great codec for streaming, but I would like to see Ubuntu engage themselves more with the FOSS community outside debian.

Take the open graphics project, they currently need to raise 2 million USD to get a truly open graphics card to the market, this is money which will return in the form of sales - to date no distribution or money man have throw anything except kind words at them. This isn't a donation it's an investment - for all of us.

Then we have Schondinger, the Ogg Dirac codec, also in need of help, or how about adding the missing features to Ogg Vorbis, powering Ogg Speex to be the single VoIP codec. There are plenty of chances to show support.

All I've seen Ubuntu invest seriously in currently is Launchpad which is closed source, it's a nice platform but it's not benefiting the greater community.

Bandit
March 2nd, 2006, 04:33 PM
Mark is already shelling out enougth cash as it is on Ubuntu. Wich even tho its his company I still consider it quite cheritable to the linux community.
Now the real question is "should" YOU (you, I & everyone else) be donating to Theora development. Prob so. Little donation here and there from everyone can go a long ways.
Cheers,
Joey

Bragador
March 2nd, 2006, 05:06 PM
I would encourage users to donate to the Ogg Vorbis project instead. It badly needs the money.

briancurtin
March 2nd, 2006, 05:45 PM
i voted no. you can only do so much and give so much of your free time. ubuntu/canonical is not an army with an asinine amount of people they are willing to just distribute to every project ever.

JuanC
March 2nd, 2006, 09:31 PM
I donate 10$ but i think didn't help so much ... for that i think a company has more resources and help them in development.

Anyone have donated to Theora?

Jucato
March 3rd, 2006, 12:06 AM
Anyone have donated to Theora?
I couldn't even donate anything to my own mother! :D

But kidding aside. I still don't think it would be good, or even proper, for Ubuntu/Canonical to sponsor Theora alone. It won't be good because it would probably affect Ubuntu's development. Let Ubuntu/Canonical do what it does best, making Linux distributions.

It won't be proper also because if Ubuntu/Canonical should sponsor Theora alone, it might be misinterpreted as an attempt of one group to manipulate or influence the development of Theora in their favor.

It would be best if Ubuntu could get together with the other distros and form a sort of alliance/group that would sponsor and assist the development of probably not only Theora but of other OGG formats as well. But seeing as Mark has no plans of joining the DCC Alliance (Debian), I don't know if we'll see this in the near future.