Re: Linux on the BBC

Whiskers wrote:
On 2008-09-23, jasee <jasee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Do any of these distributions allow the playing of commercial DVDs 'out of
the box'?

My Mandriva 2008.0 Powerpack came with 'LinDVD', so "yes".

THat's useful to know.

Most windows users would expect to be able do do this.

Indeed, but a vanilla install of WinXP doesn't play video DVDs.

Personally, in many respects, I think Linux has gone too far trying to
emulate Ms windows by providing an even more complicated graphical
interface, even more utilities with even more options. Most of which will
never be used by 99% of users.

Each distro is different. But is it better to provise a tool someone
might want at sometime, or not provide it?

I agree that the kitchen sink approach of some distros (e.g. Suse) *is*
confusing for newbies. With the very useful package managers now
available and the popularity of broadband it seems silly to me to
install too much in a base install. Now, 'too much' is very much a
personal decision.

Purist FOSS distros that lack the ability to play radio streams or MP3s or
DVDs 'out of the box' don't help the general public to get the impression
that Linux 'works'.

Totally agree.

But also, users need to be informed more effectively as to why mp3s,
ipods, DVDs don't work OOTB on a truly FOSS distro.
.

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