XGL and the future of X Windows

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006, James Knott wrote:

> Behdad Esfahbod wrote:
>
> > The only widespread video compression formats that compress
> > significantly better than MPEG are DivX, Mpeg4, XviD, Theora, and
> > Real, Microsoft, and Apple formats.  Of these, only XviD and
> > Theora are not patented AND can be replayed using Free Software.
> > Of these two, Theora is significantly harder to get played on
> > non-Linux systems.  That leaves you with XviD.  It's nothing new
> > either, it has been in use as a Free alternative to DivX for a
> > few years...
> >
> > If you are not happy that it doesn't play on your operating
> > system, the right to talk about it (other than asking for advice)
> > is your operating system's bugtracking system or video
> > publisher's one (and those happen to be very near in this case).
> > None of them follow TLUG mailing list I believe.
>
> My point is that while Xvid may be technically better, there are
> widespread formats that do work on most computers.  If someone wants
> their video to be watched, they should chose a format that most people
> will have, not necessarily the latest and greatest.  I am not someone
> who's interested in multimedia technology.  I simply want to watch
> certain items and have no desire to have to worry about various formats.
>   Many, if not most computer users fall into that catagory.  Perhaps
> someday, Xvid will be common place, but when I visited that site, I
> didn't see anything that indicated an easy install for a casual user.
> For example, I have no problem compiling packages and have done so many
> times.  However, When I do so, I prefer to use checkinstall, so that I
> can build an RPM, which can then be built once and then managed by Yast.
>  Well, Xvid won't work with checkinstall.  This means that I had to use
> make install and I can no longer use Yast to manage that package.  While
> I am very technically oriented and can do such things, many other users
> cannot.  And as I mentioned, if a MM format requires going to extra
> lengths, then I'm not likely to watch anything produced in that format,
> because MM stuff is way at the bottom of my list of priorities.

I listed all the widespread formats above, and the reason why
each one cannot be used or whatever, but you keep saying "there
are widespread formats that do work on most computers", so which
are these?  I know there are formats that play on most of Windows
systems, but I won't be surprised if no such format is used to
demo a Linux technology.  It's easy to say "there are things that
do that", it's harder to point out one.


> If you want something to be widely used, use a format that's widely
> used.  As far as I can tell Xvid doesn't make it yet.

Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora users can get it installed using a
single command invocation.  For SuSE, ask SuSE community.


--behdad
http://behdad.org/

"Commandment Three says Do Not Kill, Amendment Two says Blood Will Spill"
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