Not only is the EU supporting the Microsoft monopoly it is also stripping me of my rights to participate in democracy by not allowing me to legaly watch these video's on Linux so that i can make desicions on what and what not i will support in the future.
The EU is supposed to work for the people and therefore it MUST support all platforms by choosing a codec such as XviD.
Ther's only one word for something like this,UNDEMOCRATIC!
Whoever says it is impossible to do this, is pretty much either ignorant or lying, with little to no middle ground possible.
Any format that requires me to use proprietary software is an illegal favour towards an unique company by a governmental entity.
Please respect my rights as a citizen.
There are plenty of good and (mostly) free media formats. Why use wmv? That's not a good use of peoples money. And the reasons named are plain arrogant.
The European Union should always strife for the highest moral. Such things are not only shown in a political debate, they should also be visible in the ordinary day-to-day things. Using free and open IT standards is certainly one of them.
"We cannot support Linux in a legal way." < rofl
Whoever wrote that should get another job, or if its true (e.g. they signed a contract with m$), the signer should.
Das kann doch nicht sein, dass Microsoft wegen Missbrauch zu Millionenstrafen verurteilt und gleichzeitig mit eigentlich demokratischen Mitteln unterstützt wird.
It's very odd to read that the EU council can not legally provide streaming media for Linux Users, while there are several media players available that legally support streaming media.
If the council has signed some agreement that they are not allowed to support other platforms then Windows/Macos, then the council itself has made an illegal deal and should do something about it.
Regards, Rinse
Isn't this against one of the EU's own directives. Surely my right to prticipate in the European democratic process is being deliberately impeded by the refusal to support non-proprietory formats.
I'm a Linux-User and I know e.g. that tagesschau.de (German site of TV-news) does support also Real-codec which can be viewed with Linux-systems...
I doubt that this should not be possible for the EU!
The license fees to use these proprietary codecs is a waste of money. Far sighted public bodies should be able to see that the use of Free codecs will be beneficial for the rest of time.
en tant que citoyen européen je m'oppose à ce que mon impôt contribue à favoriser l'hégémonie des technologies propriétaires, américaines de surcroît, et ceci d'autant que des alternatives existent.
The materials of the EU should be accessible by all citizens of the EU. We all pay for the EU, so we pay for the materials so we should have the rights to access the materials in an open standardized way, not excluding certain platforms regardless of wich type. If this really should be not possible legally with the currently used technology you have the wrong technology and you have to change it as soon as possible. Looking forward to it.
The EU as a public body should try as much as possible to use free and open standards for producing not just video but all output. There are a lot of alternative video formats that would allow everyone, including Linux users, to view these videos. Hiding behind nonsense legal jargon is no excuse for technical laziness.
If there is a contract that fobids supporting linux that contract should be exposed and changed. Open standards should be obligatory for any such service. Thank you for using an open codec in the future!
Using closed, commercial systems is against the spirit of democracy and publically reviewed knowledge. In no way exists justification of using taxpayers money on commercial software when there are known free alternatives.
I completely fail to understand the EU's thinking in this. I always had this weird feeling that they weren't Microsoft's biggest fans.
That aside, it's completely unfair. They can always broadcast in an open format available to all platforms.
Any excuse to not support Linux is hard to be considered valid, when the technology required is ready for production use, freely available, and easily implemented. Such excuses come from a lack of information, prejudice, or external pressure e.g. from Microsoft or one of its vendors.
EU should not make assumptions nor dictate what platform can be used to view these streaming broadcasts. Also, please explain why Linux cannot be supported in a 'legal' way
