On Mon, 9 Apr 2001, Clay Fandre wrote:

> That's exactly the attitude that will make Ogg Vorbis fail. And we all
> lose if it fails. It should be our responisibility to do as much as we
> can to help Ogg and any other open standard succeed. Come-on Ben, get
> with it. You're beginning to sound like a Microsoftie. Me, Me, Me.

<snip>

> And if you would do a little research you'd figure out that a lot of
> apps do support Ogg, and many more will in the future. The more it's
> used, the faster it will be accepted as a standard.

There's one other little point, though.  Why do we support open source?  
For me there are a couple of reasons, but one of the biggest ones is the
ability to make something work the *right* way (or one of the right ways).  
As much as I have learned to hate them, I probably wouldn't have become
anti-Microsoft if they had allowed people to fix problems.  But when they
build a system, make poor engineering choices, *and* tell you that they
know best and you can't change it, well they can stick it where the sun
don't shine.

The reason why I can't support Vorbis wholeheartedly is because they
haven't yet mastered their own game.  mp3 is a much better piece of
perceputal coding engineering, and MPEG-AAC is lots better than that.  I'm
*NOT* saying Vorbis is bad; and to the average listener it probably makes
little difference.  But, and I *am* a little biased, mpeg has some very
solid basic research supporting its foundations, and some ingenious
DSP.  I don't see Vorbis as playing in the same league yet.

So for now, I'll root from the sidelines, but right now they just don't
meet Phil-spec. :)  I don't know if I feel responsible for their success
or failure.  Open-source / free is *a* nice standard, but for me it's not
the *only* factor.  (Even though most of it is better built anyway, IMHO!)

Got change for a nickel?
Phil

-- 
"To misattribute a quote is unforgivable." --Anonymous