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Frank Peters posted on Thu, 29 May 2014 22:44:05 -0400 as excerpted: |
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> On Fri, 30 May 2014 02:04:39 +0000 (UTC) |
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> Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@×××.net> wrote: |
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> |
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>> FWIW, I'm no-multilib as well, but I guess for a different reason. |
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>> |
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>> I don't do proprietary [...] |
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>> |
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> It's not just proprietary software that lags behind. I continue to |
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> encounter FOSS packages from time to time that are still 32-bit only. |
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> |
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> One example, for audio enthusiasts, is the excellent AudioCutter: |
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> http://www.virtualworlds.de/AudioCutter/ |
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I'm not saying 32-bit-only FLOSS isn't out there, only that by now, and |
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actually from 2010 or so (to pick the turn of the decade as a convenient |
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date, one could actually say by 2008 or so), it's increasingly non- |
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mainstream. There's the occasional exception, but for most people, |
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either their 32-bit concerns are proprietary only, or there's a more |
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mainstream 64-bit alternative. |
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Luckily for me, my interests are mainstream enough... |
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> (There are many other examples but at this moment I can't recall any |
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> specific names so you'll just have to trust me). |
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> |
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> However, when it comes to the PDF file format it is hard to beat the |
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> proprietary Foxit Reader. With FOSS only evince comes close but evince |
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> lacks a lot of capability and seems to be buggy in places. |
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I should explicitly mention that I'm all for people making their own |
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decisions regarding proprietary. Because I know if someone had tried to |
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push me before I was ready, even while I was preparing for my ultimate |
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switch, the results would have been nothing but negative. So everyone |
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must move when they are ready, and if that time never comes, well... But |
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at the same time, that decision is behind me personally, and there's |
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simply no way I'm going back to the days of proprietary. |
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As for pdf, I'm running (semantic-desktop-stripped) kde and okular, and |
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have been reasonably happy with it. Where I've seen people complain |
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about PDF readability or compatibility and have checked, okular has done |
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well enough for me, to the point I never saw what they were complaining |
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about. |
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Meanwhile, even if I did find some PDF nothing I could run would handle, |
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that would simply mean I'd not read that pdf, tho if it was worth it I |
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could envision taking it to the library to read or to a printer to have |
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them print it out or something. But I wouldn't install anything |
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proprietary on my own systems to read it. There are too many other |
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things to do in the world to worry about missing what's in one pdf, |
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especially if it meant my freedom was on the line. |
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> AMD64 should be the standard but many projects refuse to update since |
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> reliance on multi-lib is so much simpler. As a consequence we 64-bit |
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> purists are at a disadvantage. |
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True at times. Luckily, those times aren't so frequent these days. |
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |
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