Pete/Pcb21 wrote:
I must protest a little bit. You selectively edit my post in order to suggest something that I am not, then attack me for it. I was talking solely in the context of Windows - raising some points that Jimbo may not have been aware and then saying "the question is are those points important?" This is plainly different from suggesting that Windows users are the only people we care about.
Yes, in defense of Pete, I did understand him to be saying this.
And let me say this: if it were determined that the vast majority of Windows users could not view (or listen to, in this case) our content unless we used some proprietary format, we would have a tough decision to make indeed.
As a thought experiment, imagine a nightmare scenario where someone is granted a patent on html, and for a period of time that patent is vigourously enforced against free software, rendering it virtually impossible to use the web at all without using non-free or semi-free software. Would we just shut down? No, we would make the pragmatic decision to move forward with reluctance.
So Pete's questions and comments are very much on-point. There is a judgment call to be made here: how much inconvenience for end users is tolerable in order to encourage them to switch to an unencumbered format?
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.
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?
--Jimbo