In article ,
"Peter Duniho" wrote:

"Ron Garret" wrote in message
...
Well, at least we agree that something on the server side is the root
cause of the problem here.

I didn't realize that was ever in disagreement.

It doesn't "break" a standard to play a file even when the standard
doesn't
provide sufficient information to play it.

A straw man (or perhaps it's a non-sequitur). The standard does provide
enough information. What is happening here is that the server is lying
about what kind of file it is serving.

It's not a "straw man". You simply misinterpreted my meaning. By "the
standard doesn't provide sufficient information", all I mean is that the
instance of the use of the standard doesn't.

Ah, I see we have a fundamental philosophical difference here...

All the media player does is to try to make an educated guess as to what
was
actually intended

No, the media player is doing more than that. The media player is
*ignoring* the content-type information sent by the server.

As well it should, since that information is erroneous.

I tend to ignore erroneous information as well.

So when your AI flops over you just ignore it? Me, I'd get it fixed.

Are you saying that you do not?

Absolutely. Erroneous information is almost always an indication of a
problem that needs to be fixed. Just ignoring it can cause real harm.

If I roll up to a fuel pump labelled "100LL" and Jet-A comes out I'd be
pretty upset. But you would just say, "Oh, I guess when they said 100LL
they *meant* Jet-A" and figure that makes it OK.

Here's an aviation analogy: imagine that you had a magic gadget that
could convert Jet-A to 100LL. You install one of these on your
piston-powered airplane. Now when you fill up you can take either Jet-A
or 100LL. You no longer care. One day you get to an airport where the
pump marked 100LL is in fact dispensing Jet-A. From your point of view
this is not a problem. But from everyone else's point of view it is.

So... should everyone have to install one of these magic gadgets on
their planes? Or are the people without the gadget right to insist that
the fuel pumps ought to be marked correctly?

That is an exact analogy to the current situation.

No, it's not. Or if it does, it fails to prove your point.

In this current situation, Windows Media Player is the gadget, not the fuel
dispenser. The incorrectly labeled fuel dispenser is equivalent to the
server, not the media player.

That's right.

If you want to complain about anyone, complain about the server serving up
the incorrect content type information, not the media player that correctly
figures out how to play the file in spite of that incorrect information.

I am complaining about both. I am complaining about the server as the
root cause of the problem, and about the media player causing a
significant number of people to think that there is no problem and
therefore making it that much less likely that the problem will be fixed.

The problem with the media player is not so much that it plays the
video, but that it does so without providing any indication that there
is a problem. If the player put up a warning message along the lines of
"The server says this is an MP4 file but in fact it is not. This
indicates a problem with the server's configuration. Please notify the
maintainer of this site," before playing the video I would have no
quarrel with it.

What the player is doing is masking (part of) a common-mode failure and
making it appear as if it is not a common-mode failure. IMO, being
complacent about that sort of thing is the first step on the road to
disaster.

rg