Bonum Certa Men Certa

Europa.eu: Become Microsoft or Apple Client to Access European Parliament

Amazing planet



Summary: Codec patent mess remains a concern for many, not the governments though

WITH the controversy over software patents in Europe we hoped that the parliament would be more sensitive to subjects like these, but we were wrong. Over the years we gave many examples where the parliament broadcasted in formats that required buying Microsoft codecs and despite the complaints not much has changed. Here is how they explain it:











From: Webmaster Europarl Date: Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 4:58 PM Subject: RE: WPU-2389 - Problems downloading videos on the EP website To: [privacy]

Dear Madam / Sir,

Thank you for your message and your interest in the activities of the European Parliament.

The recorded videos (Video on Demand - VOD) of the plenary in the Multimedia Library are currently available in WMV and MPEG-4 format. The format of the videos for live broadcast and VOD of Committees and other events is currently WMV. In future the MPEG-4 format will be available also for the live broadcasts and all VOD. The new format will also be accompanied by a new multi-platform reader.

It seems that you are probably using an Apple computer. If not, thank you for providing information (including versions) about the operating system, browser and media player used, in order to better understand the situation you are facing and help you more efficiently.

You may find below text that answers questions of Apple/Mac users.

Live streaming:

The format of the live broadcast video feed of Parliament is WMV. On some operating systems (Mac for example) you cannot read this format directly in your browser. It is then possible to use an external media player to view the video feed. To do this, use the link provided under the video image. Copy and paste this address into your media player.

Downloading:

The recorded videos of the plenary (VOD: Video on Demand) in the Multimedia Library are currently available in WMV and MPEG-4 format. In future the MPEG-4 format should be available also for the live broadcasts and all VOD (including Committee meetings). The new format should also be accompanied by a new multi-platform reader.

VLC or Flip4Mac might be a solution for watching the video. When downloading, you can use for example VLC to read that file. Downloaded files contain always all linguistic versions. There you can go to the track "Audio / Audio Track" and choose your preferred language. As VLC is using multi bit-rate video, it is possible that it opens 3 windows for the video. Follow these steps if you'd like to have only 1 screen:

Open the file Click "Video / Video Track / Disable" -> Result: no screens Click "Video / Video Track / Track 3" -> Result: one screen

Google Chrome / Firefox plugin

About Google Chrome, if a plugin is missing then Google should propose the plugin which you can find also here: http://port25.technet.com/videos/downloads/wmpfirefoxplugin.exe (it's the same for Firefox and Google browsers).

Note: Our streaming and VOD services should be functional with the most popular operating systems, browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox) and media players (Windows Media Player, Quick Time, VLC). We cannot offer any alternative at the moment, but this is one of our priorities. Parliament is currently working to put in place other video formats and to offer better compatibility. The objective is to use the MPEG-4.

You can find more information about our VOD and Live broadcast services on the following pages.

EP Live - Multimedia Library - VOD - About:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/frd/help/help-with-menu?currentSei=SEI3&language=en

EP Live - See & Hear - Live broadcast - About:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/wps-europarl-internet/frd/help/help-with-menu?currentSei=SEI1&language=en

We hope that this helps!

Best regards,

Europarl Webmaster

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DG COMMUNICATION Directorate for Media WebMaster@europarl.europa.eu








Why does one need to buy proprietary codecs from a cartel in order to access something which could easily use free formats that are widely supported? This information is paid for by taxpayers after all, it's not just some private decision. To be fair, it is not just the European governments that do this. It's a worldwide issue and it is endemic.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

15 Countries Where Yandex is Already Seen to be Bigger Than Microsoft (in Search)
Georgia, Syrian Arab Republic, Cyprus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Turkey, and Russia
FSF Has Made It Halfway to Its Target (Funding Goal) a Week Before Christmas Day
$400,000 definitely seems reachable now, especially if they extend the "deadline"
 
Links 19/12/2024: Astronaut Record and Observer Absorbed
Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Seven Dirty Words and Isle Release v0.0.3 (Alpha)
Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Nurses Besieged by "Apps", More Harms of Social Control Media Illuminated
Links for the day
Links 19/12/2024: Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake and Privacy Camp
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/12/2024: Port Of Miami Explosion, TurboQOA, Gnus
Links for the day
Fake Articles About 'Linux'
Dated yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, December 18, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, December 18, 2024
[Meme] The Master Churnalist
Speaking of press releases being passed off as "journalism"
Spamnil's TFiR: Still Pretending Press Releases Are 'Articles' (TFiR 'Originals' as Plagiarism or Fluff)
Same as last year
Links 18/12/2024: Zakir Hussain Dies, TuneIn Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Karate Love and Advent of Code
Links for the day
Windows (or Microsoft) Has Become the "One Percent" (Market Share) in Chad
How long before it falls below 1%?
Arvind Krishna, IBM's CEO, Will Eventually Suck Up to Donald Trump Like His Predecessor Did or the Watson Family Did With Adolf Hitler
Literally Hitler
Being a Geek Need Not Mean Being Sedentary
"In the past 18 months," Berkholz writes, "I’ve lost 75 pounds and gone from completely sedentary to fit, while minimizing the effort to do so (but needing a whole lot of persistence and grit)."
GAFAM Kissing the Ring of the Mafia Don
"resistance" to dictatorship and defenders of democracy?
Slop Spaghetti From the Chef, Second Time Today
Fresh slop ready out the oven!
IBM - Like Microsoft - Lies About the Number of People It's Laying Off (Several Tens of Thousands, Not Counting R.T.O. "Silent" Layoffs and Contractors/Perma-Temps)
How many waves of silent layoffs have we seen so far at IBM this year?
Links 18/12/2024: EU Launches Probe Into TikTok (At Last!)
Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Doha/Qatar Trafficking, Bloat Comfort Zone, and Advent of Code 2024
Links for the day
Saving What's Left of Decent and Independent Journalism on the Web
We increasingly (over time) try to make local copies (hosted on our server) of important documents; it's hard to rely on third parties
[Meme] Microsoft's Latest Marketing Pitch
"Stop Being Poor; buy a new PC with TPMs"
In South Africa, a Very Large Nation, Web Developers Can Already Ignore Microsoft Browsers (Edge Measured Below 3% in 55 Nations)
The dumb assumption you must naively test with Microsoft browsers is no longer applicable in a lot of places
Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the Voice of Bill Gates and Satya Nadella
Not hard to see what they've done with the money
Microsoft Boasts That Its (Microsoft-Sponsored) "Open Source AI" Propaganda Got Cited in Media (That's Just What the Money Did)
This is a grotesque openwashing campaign
In Many Places Around the World, Perhaps as Expected, Yandex is Nearly Bigger Than Microsoft (Like in Several African Countries)
Microsoft may soon fall to "third place" in search
Keeping Productive This Christmas
We've (pre)paid for hosting till almost January 2026 and fully back on the saddle
IBM and Canonical Leave Money on the Table Because Microsoft Pays Them Not to Compete and Instead Market Windows, WSL, Microsoft 'Clown Computing', and TPMs
Where are the regulators?
Other Editors Who Agree "Hey Hi" (AI) is Just Hype But Won't Say So Publicly as It Might Upset Key Sponsors
Some media would gladly participate in a scam to make money
Brian Fagioli's Latest "Linux" Article Appears to be Fake
Another form of plagiarism/ripoff using bots?
IBM (and Red Hat) is a Patent Troll, Still Leveraging Software Patents to Extract Money Out of Other Companies by Suing Them
Basically, when it comes to patents, IBM is demonstrably part of the problem, not the solution
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 17, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, December 17, 2024
[Meme] When the People Who Falsely Accuse You of Pedophilia Turn Out to be Projecting
When you attack something or someone using falsehoods, as happens a lot to Richard Stallman (RMS), there's risk that the attacks will backfire, badly
In Some Countries, Such as Greece, Almost 80% of Windows Users Are on Vista 10 and About 85% Need to Move to GNU/Linux for Security Patches
Vista 11 was a failure
[Meme] They Don't Want the Public to Know What "Responsible Encryption" Really Means
They also blame "China" for their own back doors (because China learned how to exploit those)
The Linux Foundation's Certificate Authority (CA) Significantly and Suspiciously Raises the Number of Certificates It Issues (Quantity Increase/Inflation) by Lessening Their Lifetime in the Name of 'Security' (That Barely Makes Sense!)
LE made 3 months the "standard" for most, soon to become just 6 days instead of 6 months?
Why I Continue to Believe That at the End Software Freedom Will Win
a short and incomplete list of factors which I believe contribute to the sentiment that we can - and will - win the battles over hearts and minds in the "Tech" realm
Links 17/12/2024: More China Sanctions, GOP Scheming to Prop Up Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/12/2024: The Streisand Effect and Productivity-systems Desiderata
Links for the day
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part X
By Dr. Andy Farnell
Links 17/12/2024: More "Tesla Autopilot" and "Hey Hi" (AI) Blunders
Links for the day
Instead of Promoting GNU/Linux (or Ubuntu) Ahead of Vista 10's EoL Canonical is Marketing Microsoft's Proprietary Software
It's like Canonical employs people who work for Microsoft, not for Canonical
Links 17/12/2024: Many Abuses by Microsoft and War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Content Management Systems (CMS) Bloat/ Static Site Generators (SSG) Trouble
some Web site management stories
DEI Room at fedoraproject.org Pretty Much Dead
We're not against diversity but against its weaponisation by greedy people who do not value diversity at all
The "Latest Technology News" at BetaNews is Slop About Slop
This is at the very top of the "news" (front page) at the moment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 16, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, December 16, 2024