Go Open Source has released the Go Open television series for free download on the Internet.
The series, hosted by John Vlismas and screened on SABC TV, is reported to be the first television show in the world to focus on open source.
The broadcasts have been compressed and optimised for download purposes, using the MP4 format.
"We used an open source codec in compressing the shows because it displays the power of open source to produce standards-driven software," says Thomas Black, project manager at the Go Open Source campaign. "Thanks to the use of this codec, the show will play perfectly on Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh systems."
Another open source tool is used for actual distribution. "Downloads are activated using Bittorrent technology," says Black. "Bittorrent is essentially peer-to-peer software that collects parts of files from sources all over the Internet and assembles the final download.
"The show has been split into two torrents; one containing episodes one to six and the other with episodes seven to 13," says Black. "Each file is around 600MB in size, a perfect size to be cut onto CD. It is also possible to download individual episodes."
For more information or to obtain torrents of the show, visit www.go-opensource.co.za.
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