You've just proved the validity of his analogy. Now compute the cost of
installing your own codec versus buying a package with the codec
installed. Be sure to include the value of your time. You
definitely have to "drive" a lot further when you do it yourself.
apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2
The analogy breaks down with Linux, because you get better efficiency
with increased knowledge. As someone said, time is money, but in my
case, if I know how to add the Marillat repository and issue the
command, the time is minimal. With each computer I work with, the "cost"
of increased time decreases. Ubuntu tries to achieve this efficiency
with the Easy-Ubuntu script. The only way the car analogy works would be
to claim that with knowledge, the distance to cheaper gas drops with
each tank full.
Now consider the Windows side of the issue. Many new computers (but not
all) come with some form of DVD playing software, along with the ability
to play Windows media files. They still need to get Quicktime, and they
need to learn to avoid Web sites that insist you download and install a
special codec to play a requested file (spyware in disguise).
Then there is the Windows user that buys a DVD drive. He, or she, still
needs to install the software, but with my knowledge I can do it faster
in Linux.
Then there is the case of the person who took his laptop in for repair,
got his drive re-imaged, and lost the ability to play DVDs. After going
round and round with CompUSA for months, he began looking for "free"
players. He didn't want to spend $50 for a full version of commercial
software. Fortunately, I warned him about spyware bundling. In the end,
since money was tight, he elected to stop playing DVDs on his laptop.
Now before you ask where his restore disks were, he had them. All he had
to do was copy his data to a CD-R, restore the system, re-install his
other software (he managed to keep MOST of the relevant CDs), and
restore his data. Unfortunately, he lost the ability to burn CDs when
CompUSA did the re-imaging.
--
Hawaiian Astronomical Society: http://www.hawastsoc.org
HAS Deepsky Atlas: http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky
