I try not to be critical in my blog posts, or at least not without giving both sides of the story, as I believe that giving constructive support achieves more than standing at a distance, making complaints without context. Unfortunately, there have been several facts I have been keeping note of recently which together are worthy of a post and which all point out limitations or failings in the MPlayer project or software. Hopefully my previous post makes clear that my noting of these problems is not without a great respect for the good work that has gone into MPlayer, but that does not put them above criticism. On that point, it is worth clarifying something, namely that it would be unreasonable to make a demand of MPlayer, as the developers are generously giving their time and effort to the whole world for Free, but that doesn’t mean those developers should never have their decisions or actions questioned. Only this week someone thanked me for a contribution I had made to a Free software project, but also pointed out a lack of functionality in that contribution. Generously, they offered a patch to introduce the functionality they desired, and I in turn thanked them for doing so. I therefore do not raise these concerns with a lack of understanding for the nature of non-commercial projects.
Continue reading "The problems with MPlayer"
