Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote:
My sense of it is that the inconvenience is minor. The point about libraryies and schools is well-taken, but I don't know (none of us do) how many people would actually be frustrated by that. The question about what is required of end users is also a valid one, but it seems like nothing to me to download a plug-in... most people do that sort of thing all the time.
[I wrote]
It appears you can _play_ MP3s libreally and gratisly. The difficulty is creating them. Thus as long as the uploader "signs" to say they have done so legally, then the migration path that allows dual formats (even of the same piece) might be an option.
I think the situation is worse than that. I think it is not possible for legal free software to even play mp3s. Am I wrong about that?
Well other posts in this thread indicate that at best, the _threat_ of patents being enforced against MP3 decoders is very real. At worst, it is already not possible (though it looks like there are plenty of GPL programs on sourceforge today offering MP3 playback.
In other words, it would completely against our ethos to put users in this position.
Having thrown up the concerns that I did, and listened to the responses, I personally now agree we have to go with OGG. And I think we should be quite evangelical about it. (Note NPOV applies to articles, not surrounding meta pages wear we can be POV)
In particular
1) The OGG for Windows Media Player plug-in site has an "unofficial" look about it. We should consider asking permission to host the download on our site (with full link backs to authors) to reassure users.
2) Provide a mechanism for users to give feedback. "Can't play OGG? Can't download the plugin? Please let us know where you are trying to access Wikipedia from (home/school/college/etc)" We could then even have a standard form letter to send to sysadmins of the school/college in question.
Wikipedia is one of very very few projects where regular Joe User comes into contact with the _idea_ of FOSS and free content. We can't sit in geek "ivory towers" expecting Mr AOL User to figure it out. Those who, like me, have given tech support to the average intelligent fifty year old will appreciate just how alien an environment computers to them. We go with OGG, and we help people out.
Pete