[vorbis] Why is Vorbis development slow?

[Graham Mitchell]

> > The source code is out in the open, and I
> > find it sufficiently clear to follow.
>
> So you are basically saying that things are fine as
> they are, the tools are there for people to use but
> they just aren't putting the effort in?

Actually, I interpret it like so: there is quite a bit of documentation out 
there, including the source code.  If that (and the occasional specific 
question to vorbis-dev or on irc) isn't enough, then hacking on vorbis is 
not for you.

> Over the past year Vorbis had made very little progress with tuning.

I think you underestimate the difficulty of "tuning".  If it were easy for 
developers to beat AAC, it would have been done by now.  And it's especially 
not going to get done by folks for whom "the source is not enough."

> it's down to Monty again and the last year has shown that
> to not be enough.

So because the quality level isn't where you think it could be by now, Monty 
"isn't enough"?  Even though he hasn't been working much on quality 
improvements for the last year?  Interesting perspective.

Monty claims he's got some "AAC+SBR killer" tricks under his sleeve (IIRC), 
but that hasn't been a priority for the last year.  Rather, getting Vorbis 
on portables has.  I guess you're suggesting that, in your opinion 
additional quality improvements should have been a higher priority.

In fact, you're sort of suggesting that portable support is *so* low of a 
priority that it would have been better for core developers to drop working 
on it so they could write "better" documentation.  Despite the fact they 
were getting paid to do portable support, and not getting paid to write 
documentation during that period?  I know which option *I* would have 
chosen.

> It's Xiph's problem, not theirs. Xiph has to
> resolve it.

It doesn't look like Xiph are the ones worried about it, and who am I to say 
whether they "should" be or not?

Disclaimer: I don't speak for Xiph.  I've just been on this list for a 
relatively long time, AND I know that I don't have the "stuff" to be a core 
developer.  Having access to the source isn't enough for me; I lack a lot of 
knowledge about signal theory, etc.  And that's... okay.  It's not Xiph's 
job to educate me, so I'll stick to bug reports, minor fixes in the tools, 
documentation and advocacy.

And posting to the mailing lists pretending I know what I'm talking about. :)


-- 
Graham Mitchell - computer science teacher, Leander High School
"I come into His presence simply.  No illusions, no masks, no excuses.
He knows me piercingly, and nothing is hidden.  Yet He loves me without
condition or explanation.  To know that perfect love, in spite of what
we both know I am on the inside, fills me with awe.  God is good." - me

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