A few months ago we ran a poll about the most important non-free Linux apps. We had over 8,000 votes in that poll and we consider the results pretty interesting. Interesting enough to push Linux's market share if a distro capitalized on them?
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Member since:2006-02-10
BTW ... you are still ignoring the fact that this is far, far easier to get a DVD player working than it is in Windows. In Windows, you have to find a commercial dvd player application and then find somewhere to buy it from, buy it & install it.
Far costlier and many times more troublesome.
Not to mention those unpleasant visits to your favourite "warez&crackz" site.
Please address any issues you have fairly and with parity against the alternatives.
Fair enough.
Member since:2005-11-11
//In Windows, you have to find a commercial dvd player application and then find somewhere to buy it from, buy it & install it. //
Well, I exaggerate just a little there.
You could install this instead:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html
which won't cost you.
Edited 2006-10-25 11:07
Member since:2006-05-11
Member since:2005-11-11
Member since:2006-01-16
BTW ... you are still ignoring the fact that this is far, far easier to get a DVD player working than it is in Windows. In Windows, you have to find a commercial dvd player application and then find somewhere to buy it from, buy it & install it.
Far costlier and many times more troublesome.
Funny, my wife simply put a DVD in her Windows XP laptop, and played it. No software to find, buy, or install.
Me, the first time I tried to play a DVD on my Linux machine, I had to search to figure out what I needed to install, then I had to find out whether my distribution made it available, then I had to download install it, then I think I had to reboot before I could play a DVD. Much easier. 
Member since:2006-01-09
Funny, my wife simply put a DVD in her Windows XP laptop, and played it. No software to find, buy, or install.
Me, the first time I tried to play a DVD on my Linux machine, I had to search to figure out what I needed to install, then I had to find out whether my distribution made it available, then I had to download install it, then I think I had to reboot before I could play a DVD. Much easier.
Thatīs because she is using a laptop. These machines always comes preinstalled with all sort of applications installed by the hardware vendor. At least, I havenīt seen one that does comes with a off-the-shelf barebones version of Windows. Windows XP itself doesnīt comes with a DVD decoder out of the box either if you get the retail version and install on your box.
Regardless, I think that this is a non issue. I had to install WinDVD to be able to watch DVDs on Windows and had to install libdvdread/libdvdcss with Xine to be able to watch DVDs on Linux. In both cases, it was almost effortless.
There are lots of people on this thread making it appear a lot harder than it really is. My wife doesnīt know how to make DVDs work on neither platform no matter how easy these people think that Windows is, so she would be lost and clueless in both cases. If a person canīt follow simple instructions handed to them, he/she will be lost no matter what OS he/she is dealing with.
Member since:
2005-11-11
//Believe me, I will put a ridiculous amount of time and effort to make things work, if needed. I can afford it and I enjoy it. But most people don't and I think that the barrier should be lowered.//
How so?
How hard is it to put a DVD in the DVD drive, and then, when it tells you it needs an extra package to be installed, just go & install that package, using the package manager just as you would for any other package?
Alternatively, I typed in >"play dvd" ubuntu< into google search, and within 3 clicks I found this help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats
... It really isn't too hard at all. From that page, for ubuntu, to play a DVD amounts to copy & paste the following line into a terminal:
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/examples/install-css.sh
BTW ... you are still ignoring the fact that this is far, far easier to get a DVD player working than it is in Windows. In Windows, you have to find a commercial dvd player application and then find somewhere to buy it from, buy it & install it.
Far costlier and many times more troublesome.
Please address any issues you have fairly and with parity against the alternatives.
Edited 2006-10-25 10:50