[OLPC-Philippines] getting mp3 sound working w/ Gnash easily

[James Shields]

Let's be practical here ... does it really matter to the kids if we use
Flash vs. Gnash?  Sometimes, free-to-download can put "powerful tools" in
the hands of the kids faster.

Stallman writes wonderfully about this.  And, in principle, he's right.
It's like the earlier days of the PC when we had the Technical Reference
Manual, our assemblers, and vast plains of 640k of RAM with which to play.
Freedom ... to create, learn, etc.

Do any of us honestly believe that 99.99% of the students in the Philippines
will even look under the hood?  Will want access to the source code on which
we are working?

No, they won't.  They want access to modern books, they want to be able to
have the latest text books so that they can get a decent education.

Guys like Stallman talk about freedoms and staying away from proprietary
software.  Does this even matter when it comes to delivering educational
content to kids in need?

No, not for a second.  What matters is delivering the content in ways that
are accessable and affordable.

Religious debates can be held by those whose parents aren't worried about
how they'll feed their children tomorrow.  How about we worry about what's
the most efficient way to deliver what is needed today?

As time goes on and platforms like Gnash improve, we can slip those in and
replace the "proprietary" softare.  If it's so proprietary, how can Gnash
even exist?  Oh, right, Adobe published the standard and lets others write
to it.

We don't like Adobe's licensing requirements?  OK, eventually use Gnash.
That's fine.  Seems like a good alternative.  But, if Gnash is a hassle in
the short term, let's use Flash while we wait for Gnash to implement the
features we need.

Again, it's all about being practical.  Software secularism, it's a good
thing.

James Shields


-----Original Message-----
From: olpc-philippines-bounces at lists.laptop.org
[mailto:olpc-philippines-bounces at lists.laptop.org]On Behalf Of Mj Mendoza IV
Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 9:31 PM
To: OLPC Philippines/Pilipinas grassroots
Subject: Re: [OLPC-Philippines] getting mp3 sound working w/ Gnash easily


> I don't think there's really anything preventing us from using and
> recommending Flash (especially in the Philippines where we're less
> encumbered by software patents -- I think in current Philippine law,
> there's no legal restriction on algorithms, there's only software
> copyrights, and copyrights are different from patents.)

Oh. So, just in case Coca-Cola Philippines doesn't exists and Pop Cola
copied the recipe of Coke, the Coke USA can't sue Pop Cola because their
patent is only good in US?!?

I'm not a lawyer. Can anyone clear this up to me?

> it's just that the XO ships with Gnash pre-installed and that
> there's a strong leaning towards Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) with
the OLPC.