An article on ZDNet UK is echoing the concerns of a group of Linux users. They are petitioning the EU Council, claming that the video streams on the EU Council web site are unreadable under Linux.
Strange. It is true the files are in the proprietary WMV format. However this format is supported by both MPlayer and the Xine/Totem player. These packages are included in most Linux distributions. So, it is just not true that Linux users are being left out.
The fact is that the WMV format is proprietary, but this is a different story.
The fact is also that the EU Council’s contractor for video streaming, ie Belgian telecom operator Belgacom, has demonstrated its own cluelessness. In its FAQ dated 1st January 2007 (in Google cache), they stated “We cannot support Linux in a legal way. So the answer is: No support for Linux”. This is mistaken of course, as demonstrated above. The newest version of their FAQ deleted the offending sentence. However, they still do not mention the fact that WMV files can indeed be played under Linux.
This raises the question if one would hire Belgacom to do the video streaming, knowing the company is apparently not able to do a simple homework of googling for “Linux WMV” ? The same question applies to the ZDNet staff writer, by the way. Can you trust an IT information source where journalists seem unable to do some research before publishing a paper ?
However, I agree the EU should use open file formats for publishing information on the Internet. This is why most docs on the EU web sites are posted in PDF format. Soon, documents will also be available in ODF format, where they were previously only in the proprietary MS Office formats. For video streaming, there is still a need to do more. Do we have one open file format that is allows live streaming that compatible with MS Windows, MacOSX and all the different flavours of Linux and *BSD ?
Update: I tried and it failed. The issue is not so much the actual streaming, but the javascript and AJAX put around the URL so that it displays in your current browser window rather than launching another one.
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