Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote:
My sense of it is that the inconvenience is minor.
The point about
libraryies and schools is well-taken, but I don't know (none of us do)
how many people would actually be frustrated by that. The question
about what is required of end users is also a valid one, but it seems
like nothing to me to download a plug-in... most people do that sort
of thing all the time.
[I wrote]
It appears you can _play_ MP3s libreally and
gratisly. The difficulty is
creating them. Thus as long as the uploader "signs" to say they have
done so legally, then the migration path that allows dual formats (even
of the same piece) might be an option.
I think the situation is worse than that. I think it is not possible
for legal free software to even play mp3s. Am I wrong about that?
Well other posts in this thread indicate that at best, the _threat_ of
patents being enforced against MP3 decoders is very real. At worst, it
is already not possible (though it looks like there are plenty of GPL
programs on sourceforge today offering MP3 playback.
In other words, it would completely against our ethos to put users in
this position.
Having thrown up the concerns that I did, and listened to the responses,
I personally now agree we have to go with OGG. And I think we should be
quite evangelical about it. (Note NPOV applies to articles, not
surrounding meta pages wear we can be POV)
In particular
1) The OGG for Windows Media Player plug-in site has an "unofficial"
look about it. We should consider asking permission to host the download
on our site (with full link backs to authors) to reassure users.
2) Provide a mechanism for users to give feedback. "Can't play OGG?
Can't download the plugin? Please let us know where you are trying to
access Wikipedia from (home/school/college/etc)" We could then even have
a standard form letter to send to sysadmins of the school/college in
question.
Wikipedia is one of very very few projects where regular Joe User comes
into contact with the _idea_ of FOSS and free content. We can't sit in
geek "ivory towers" expecting Mr AOL User to figure it out. Those who,
like me, have given tech support to the average intelligent fifty year
old will appreciate just how alien an environment computers to them. We
go with OGG, and we help people out.
Pete