On 04/12/06, Jason Cartwright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:> May I ask why you don't want to use Flash? Certainly - I'm glad you asked, and am happy to explain why :-) Have you heard of "Free Software"? I expect you have heard of "OpenSource" software. While the end results are the same, the motivationsfor Free Software and Open Source software are totally different. "Many users have imbibed the Linux/Open Source philosophy: 'It's funto have software that you can share and change', it leads to morereliable software, it's purely a technical issue. The Open Sourcemovement recommends allowing people to study, change and redistributethe software because that gives better technical results, it allows usto develop more powerful software faster. But that's as deep as theygo. We in the Free Software movement recognise these practical benefits,and they are nice, but they are not the most important issue. Moreimportant are the ethical and political aspects. To be able to live inan upright way, treating your friends decently, sharing, helping themwhen they ask you for help. Living as part of a society, instead of adog-eat-dog jungle. 'Free' in Free Software is free as in "free speech", not free as in"free beer". You're allowed to charge for copies of free software. Butyou're not allowed to stop other people from modifying or distributingit further. The philosophy of Free Software is that you are entitled to certainfreedoms in using software. Freedom to study what a programme reallydoes. To change it – if it doesn't do what you want, to change it sothat it does. And to redistribute copies of it, to share knowledgewith the rest of humanity. That's why we created a new kind of software license, called the GNUGeneral Public License (GNU GPL). The GPL uses existing copyright andpatent law to prevent anyone from turning free software back intoproprietary software. Software licensed by its developers under theGPL must remain free, so proprietary software companies can't pillagethe commons we have created. We are fighting for freedom here. Non-free programmes don't respectyour freedom, they trample your freedom. They are not inferiorsolutions to be accepted until something better arrives. They areproblems, to be solved by replacing them with free software."- http://www.opendemocracy.net/articles/ViewPopUpArticle.jsp?id=8&articleId=31 If you are still unsure _why_ all software should be Free, I highlyrecommend reading this 1992 essay: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html Because the phrase "Open Source" was coined in 1998, it is not dealtwith in that essay.
How do you use all the Flash-based functionality all over the net?
I don't use the Adobe Flash player software for the GNU+Linuxoperating system, because I want to 'live in an upright way, treatingmy friends decently, sharing, helping them when they ask me for help.Living as part of a society, instead of a dog-eat-dog jungle.', as itwere. But I could still use most Flash-based software, thanks to the GNUProject developing a Free Software Flash player, "Gnash", -http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/ However, it is not complete to a level that meets my needs, so at themoment I simply download flash videos with www.keepvid.com - they playwith Free Software video players such as VLC - www.videolan.org - oncethey are downloaded, plus because I download them, I can watch them on my TV across my home network, and share them withmy friends. This is much better than downloading a video as a 'stream'every time I want to see it, and being unable to share with my friendstoday or even with my future self - when blip.tv goes bust, I'll stillhave a copy. -- Regards,Dave - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
