smb://

[Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.]

On Monday 28 May 2007, Hans van der Merwe <hvdmerwe at sunspace.co.za> wrote 
about 'Re: [kde] smb://':
> On Mon, 2007-05-28 at 04:33 -0500, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. wrote:
> > On Monday 28 May 2007, Hans van der Merwe <hvdmerwe at sunspace.co.za>
> > wrote
> >
> > about 'Re: [kde] smb://':
> > > On Fri, 2007-05-25 at 17:23 +0100, Graham wrote:
> > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > > > Hash: SHA1
> > > >
> > > > On Fri, 25 May 2007 10:56:33 +0200
> > > > Hans van der Merwe <hvdmerwe at sunspace.co.za> wrote:
> > > > > Anyone know if there are plans for kio_smb to accept MS version
> > > > > of smb:// URIs.
> > > > > ie "smb:\\server\share" or more accurately "\\server\share"
> > > >
> > > > As has been pointed out, those are NOT urls because they don't
> > > > follow the RFC for urls which is the way standards are set.
> > > >
> > > > I understand your difficulty, but it arises from a
> > > > misunderstanding by your fellow Windows users.  Just because an OS
> > > > is used by more people than anything else does NOT necessarily
> > > > mean it follows standards that have been agreed.
> > >
> > > How much of a "standard" is  MSWordDOC/OOXML or WMV/WMA or
> > > NTFS etc etc.
> >
> > If someone send me a file/url in
> > a format I can't handle, I ask them for it in a format I can.  I also
> > send others Ogg/Theora, Ogg/Vorbis, and ODF files, but I don't have an
> > issue putting content in any other standard format, if requested.
>
> Surely people you deal with is not going to go through the pain of
> convert WMV video to OGG just to satisfy you?

Normally, it's not important enough for them to do so, so I just forgo the 
content entirely.  Although there are services (ala GooTube) that will 
take WMVs and convert to flash-wrapped MPEG (a standard) with a minimum of 
interaction and F(L)OSS tools that allow me to view such content.

> Or installing OpenOffice 
> because you cant read Doc files.

Normally, they don't.  They save as RTF (a standard, though flawed) or 
print to a PS or PDF (both standards, although PDF is closed) file.

> Or maybe they do, tell me your secret :)

I try to be polite but stubborn, and I'll generally drop a URL that more 
fully explains my position.  It's easy to ignore if they don't care about 
my position, and while it's not inspired anyone to join the "Free Software 
Movement" they do generally understand that *they* are asking *more* of 
me.

Remember, they asked you to open a file which is only fully readable in one 
application (that costs $$$ to buy, and my time to install) under one OS 
(that costs $$ to buy, and my time to install).  Even if there are free 
readers, I may not have one installed and that requires some of my time.

It also depends a lot on your position.  If you are requesting they provide 
some content to you for free, you should be prepared to accept it in a 
format they have.  If they a requesting that you view some content (for 
free), they should be prepared to send it in a format you have.  Of 
course, you may end up at an impasse (if you are RMS for example) where 
accommodating their format requires you sacrifice your morals.

Also, if someone is having difficulty viewing Ogg/Theora, Ogg/Vorbis, or 
ODF, I'll gladly spent *my time* to make it easy for them, if possible.

> But again, I would like to see all this happen much "lower" in the
> desktop/OS layers - so that all apps can benefit from it.

I absolutely agree.  KDE should push for some method of registering URL 
protocols and URI -> URL mapping to happen at the "freedesktop.org" layer.  
Sure, it's nice that well-written KDE applications can benefit from kio_* 
but it be nicer if all well-written X applications could benefit from 
them.

-- 
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.                     ,= ,-_-. =. 
bss03 at volumehost.net                      ((_/)o o(\_))
ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DaTwinkDaddy           `-'(. .)`-' 
http://iguanasuicide.org/                      \_/     

PS: Sorry, if I didn't trim my post enough.
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