Open standards lie at the heart of open government. Why disenfranchize part of your constituency purely on the basis that they preferred not to be locked into vendor-specific software?
I'm a multiple-plataform user (iussually use: GNU/*, netBSD, Windows)
and it's too unjust that i'll reboot my computer to see the plenary session,
why insist to use closed formats if a plarlament assumes the people representation,
if I can't see the parlamentary session at any SO you'll trust that you don't represent me.
It is pure dumbness, to discriminate users of free operatingsystems such Linux and to claim those OS' illegal. This shows the politic's weakness to be exploited as an institution for industrial interests and monopol protect!
You'd think that the EU would be all for supporting something that came from Europe originally but of course having to use a different codec is impossible apparently. Please reconsider your codec. It's terrible.
EU should not bias competition. Please release your material in vendor-neutral formats, so that all citizens can access it. It's a matter of democrazy.
If pen and paper where the standard method of distributing content, would the EU use some special paper and some extraordinary pen only readable by some? This is ridiculous.
Such a statement belies either incredible incompetence, or incredible dishonesty.
In either case, you owe it to your constituency to correct this situation. The EU belongs to its citizens, not to M$ or Apple.
It is perfectly possible to use open standards to support multiple platforms legally.
It is the duty of the Council to ensure its content is accessible to all, not just those who use particular platforms.
It is essential to enable all EU citizens, including those using "minority" operating systems, to access all data they are legally entitled to. Not doing so amounts to discrimination, no better than those based on other "minority" issues, like homosexuality, etc.
This is morally reprehensible - please reconsider your stance on this. It is not in the EU's interest to restrict access to information that should be free to all.
Open standards complement the democratic institution the EU is supposed to be. Of course we saw with the software patents debacle that the EU isn't really democratic so it saddens but doesn't surprise me that the EU is using thoroughly patented, proprietary stanards.
As european citizen, I have the right to access to the streaming service without having to buy a proprietary platform. EU, please use open standards. Open standards mean free choice.
When the grounds for a policy that states no legal application (of streaming video) is posible outside the proprietary one's, then more arguments are required to support such a statement; those are lacking.
I believe, linux can be used for everything! I use it for 10 years, without any problems. All my hardware is supported, all software I had to buy for MS Win is free here. Nowadays I find even more userfriendly boxes, so desktops could also be replaced with the free OS! Streaming: I use XMMS and listen to everything I could listen to with winamp on MS Win. By the way, mplayer plays WMV & WMA formats! Best wishes and install the penguin everywhere :D
Even as a Mac user, I find it reprehensible that the EU is using a proprietary format for streaming video. If it should be proprietary, make it a European standard, rather than an American one.
Outrageous. I cannot believe that the EU makes a statement like they did in the FAQ. It's this type of attitude that helps to fuel Euro-sceptisism in The Netherlands. The EU is making a fool of themselves. Please stop this now!
