A Random Thought Concerning Distros...

[DeadSuperHero]

I've been thinking about this:

Ubuntu doesn't come with codecs for legal reasons. It would have to pay for a license to use those codecs, and it would need some sort of funding to be able to continue doing so (although, Mark Shuttleworth is a billionaire)
So, what about all distros? They each would have to probably pay large sums of money to just be able to have official multimedia capabilities.
But I've been thinking...what if we saved up money for GNOME, XFCEor KDE, and using a huge fund donated by the community, the GNOME, XFCE and KDE foundations could pay for the codecs to be used in ALL of their software, and any distro of Linux or BSD has permission to use them.
Would this be a feasible way to include codecs with a later (K/X)Ubuntu release automatically, making it even easier for out-of-the-box support? Would it benefit all (or most) distributions with out-of-the-box support?
What do you think?

[Dimitriid]

Too many purists will tell you that you're making things worst by conceding to proprietary codecs.

I do not necessarily agree with that, but however I do think that we should try to make more conscious efforts to promote open codecs.

[aysiu]

Ubuntu doesn't come with codecs for legal reasons. That's only one factor. Read more here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/community/ubuntustory/philosophy

[WanderingKnight]

The problem is, GNOME and KDE don't distribute anything. The distribution of the software (codecs) is done by the distro company, that's why they have to license it in order to distribute it out-of-the-box.

[dewcansam]

I personally hate the thought of codec's. I am getting so sick of trying to figure out wich codec to use and is being used by a particular file. I wish we could all get along and start using just a small group of codec's. Take MY samsung camcorder for instance, shot a nice video, wanted to show it to my mother, emailed it to her. Nope she can't view it samsung codec, so now i have to find a way to transfer to different format, fine do that, nope, she doesn't have that codec either, so now i encode using raw format. At least she can see it now, but it's a huge file size.

I think we should start a new non-profit org "FREE THE CODEC"

[rbprogrammer]

That's only one factor. Read more here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/community/ubuntustory/philosophy

he's right, i would think that the people behind ubuntu and canonical have money should they want to do that. but why pay for software when someone somewhere will make some open source code? that's one of the biggest reasons why i strayed away from the other OS. and i'm sure i'm not the only one..

[juxtaposed]

Just use codecs anyway, no need to pay for them. The software to decode nearly everything is open source.

[DeadSuperHero]

Well, I meant to pay for whatever legal fees are needed to use codecs.
And if that's not the case, then why doesn't Ubuntu come with codecs, then?

[aysiu]

Well, I meant to pay for whatever legal fees are needed to use codecs. Yes, legal fees do figure in as a (i.e., one of many) factor(s).
And if that's not the case, then why doesn't Ubuntu come with codecs, then? Read the link in my earlier post.

[DeadSuperHero]

I did. But what about Open Source codecs/decoders, why doesn't it come with those?
Gah, everything would be easier if all codecs were just Open Sourced.

[Bachstelze]

I did. But what about Open Source codecs/decoders, why doesn't it come with those?


Because it comes in one CD. One CD is 700 MiB, you cannot put everything on it...

[DeadSuperHero]

Hmm, then perhaps they need a DVD version with everything pre-setup on it...
I mean, Linux needs to be as moronproof as possible if it ever wants to get dominance over Vista.
Ironically, though, Ubuntu works perfectly with playing DVD's, while it takes hours just to find, pay for, and install some crappy third-party codec written for a closed-source system...

[aysiu]

I did. But what about Open Source codecs/decoders, why doesn't it come with those? It does. That's why you can play Ogg and other open formats out-of-the-box.