Ok, so maybe I've been using linux for far too long. It's so easy to get the software I want. I'm sorting out an Ubuntu box for a frined at the moment, and this page shows how easy it is to find all the multimedia codecs he could ever want.

At the same time, I'm having a wrestling match with one of those LG Super-Multi optical disk recorder things. Yep it's the third one in the household to show it's mammaries to the sun, but it appears to almost work under windows. The problem is I can't play the DivXs and Ogg/Theora files I've stuck on the DVD. Guess what, I have to do all the legwork (or is that mousework) myself.

The DivX.com website has the DivX codec, but what about other formats? The Theora.org website has sorce code, but no windows binary, and just what proportion of windows users know how to, or can be bothered to compile from source?

Enter VideoLAN (no, not sandman) VLC Media Player. It's free as in both speech and beer and ships with most of the codecs I'd ever want. OK so I still have to download the bloody thing myself, but at at least it's problably painless enough for Tim to install.