[vorbis] Why the commotion about file extensions?

[Beni Cherniavsky]

Jens =?iso-8859-1?q?Pr=FCfer?= wrote on 2003-07-14:

> Hello all,
>
> why is there all the commotion about file extensions? I do strongly believe
> any software using those extensions for identification of file contents is
> broken. After all, it is very easy to name a DivX Video .doc. Yet that ending
> changes nothing about the contents of the file. Word will complain about the
> content or (more likely) display a load of gibberish. More dangerously
> changing .exe or .com to .txt is also possible, smuggling in malicious code
> via email etc.
>
> Instead an up-to-date magic file and truely looking at file headers is the far
> better way. Don't you aggree? I don't know, why this is not the standard way
> to do things. I guess, because Microsoft thinks looking at three letter
> extensions is good enough for them, it should be good enough for the rest of
> the world as well.
>
Good points and most of us agree to them (I do).  However, there is a
problem.  It's not the purpose of Xiph to fight every misdesign in
windows and to re-educate its users.  That would only result in most
windows users being hostile towards Vorbis because it doesn't work the
way thy are used to.  If they want extensions, let them have
extensions.  After all, even in unix, you use extensions for most
files because it is convenient.  So let's choose a few extensions for
convenience.  And let the windows users be locked into them ;-).


-- 
Beni Cherniavsky <cben at tx.technion.ac.il>

If I don't hack on it, who will?  And if I don't GPL it, what am I?
And if it itches, why not now?  [With apologies to Hilel ;]
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