Free Software Linux

In a time when free formats are finally gaining some terrain over their counterparts, there was a niche in Ogg that had not been properly tapped yet: captioning.

An essay regarding why a big number of projects is better than just a few, as some suggest. "I kept reading opinions regarding the big number of Linux distributions out there, most of them saying that we have a huge number of distros, each one with its own package management system, keeping Linux divided. read more

The article includes several reasons to use Linux. 1. Linux and most of the Linux applications are open-source 2. Hundreds of good distributions from which to choose from 3. High security 4. No costs 5. No patent restrictions

If you are a loyal reader, you may have noticed that we never use the word “open” near “formats”. Yeah, what’s the story behind that, you ask. Well, we’ll dive into the subject in just a moment, but since I’m known for doing (strange) comparisons while presenting an argument, let’s go ahead and think of a door. It is open; you can go in and out any time you want, right? Right. Until someone steps in, claims the door as his and tells you you have to pay to get in. Oh, and he (and everyone else) still considers the door open, because you can see what’s on the other side. See, open door, open formats! How could you think of it any other way?

So, here we are. Free formats, Open Media. Fine words, fine words, but what do they mean to you? Perhaps not much yet, but hear me out. Those words mean HD-quality video. They mean high quality music at small file sizes. They mean office files that work everywhere, no matter the system. They mean playlists that you can actually share. And more importantly: they mean freedom from corporation locks.

Those who haven’t left the planet in the last year have at some point heard of HTML 5, the new improved language that will likely power the Web in the coming years. One of the many great features it sports, which will be of interest to free formats enthusiastics, is the multimedia elements: <video> and <audio>. Imagine being able to post video and audio in your blog as easily as you do with images. On forums, on online shops, on office intranets, on anything. It really has the potentional to revolutionize the Web. No more Flash, no more YouTube. Independence! And all of this using Vorbis and Theora as the baseline codecs!