Santa hat icon?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Thank you.
I sincerely think that you and I are both somehow right.
I understand that VLC didn't do any copying, and I believe you that it didn't change its vlc.exe icon.
But I did see all my media file file icons change to santa hats, and then not change back when VLC changed its own icon back. Something happened in between, which changed the media icons, and then didn't happen to change them back. I have no idea what that is, but it happens repeatably.
Apparently it didn't happen to you, so it's natural that you don't see it as annoying!
Anyways, thanks for the info.

Official VLC does not change the media file icons to santa hats.

[quimkaos]

just this:
why the frak i have to see a reference to a religion i refuse (the one i was raised on) specialy in OSS...
give a Christmas skin, just don't taint my chosen software with BS superstitions...

[spchtr]

Isn't Odin a religious figure? Father of the Norse gods and all that.

Personally I dislike the hat for aesthetic reasons, and I dislike the commercialism that the season has come to represent.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

just this:
why the frak i have to see a reference to a religion i refuse (the one i was raised on) specialy in OSS...
give a Christmas skin, just don't taint my chosen software with BS superstitions...

A santa hat is not a religious symbol.
And as it is OSS, please fork VLC.

[lrh9]

Hello. I registered solely to post this. I will not be returning.

The developers of the current version of VLC have the right to develop it how they wish.

I have the right to use a different program.

I am going to exercise that right.

I have the right to be displeased with the developers' behaviors and attitudes, and I have the right to be displeased with the community's behaviors and attitudes.

I used to love VLC. Now it is uninstalled from my computer.

I am one of the people who do not want the Santa Hat icon on the top of the player.

I have read about this issue, and I understand there is no option to disable or change it in the current version.

I understand it is possible for me to create my own version without the icon.

I am going to use an alternative because if the people here truly believed in choice they would have included a choice.

I don't support this project and its team. They don't believe my side's ideas have any merit. I don't believe in the developers.

Respect is earned, and since you haven't given any you haven't earned any. All we were asking for is fair consideration and a fair, developer implemented option. Instead we have been ridiculed and snubbed. This response is well deserved. Your behavior has consequences.

There is nothing wrong with us. It is you who are wrong for not caring that people have different ideas and deserve different choices. Your dismissal of differing religious beliefs, holiday practices, and cultural preferences as "hateful" even borders on bigotry. These people and the world do not deserve your hatred. Your failure to consider others is what is dangerous.

I hope one day you use software that displays something you do not like or agree with, then you may understand and reciprocate. If you rectify the situation by providing options for preferences and none, and you apologize to the people who have bought this issue to your attention then I will return. Someone here has my email.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Your dismissal of differing religious beliefs, holiday practices, and cultural preferences as "hateful" even borders on bigotry. These people and the world do not deserve your hatred. Your failure to consider others is what is dangerous.

Your bigotry to see "religious beliefs", "holiday practices" is the issue.

I hope one day you use software that displays something you do not like or agree with, then you may understand and reciprocate. If you rectify the situation by providing options for preferences and none, and you apologize to the people who have bought this issue to your attention then I will return. Someone here has my email.

VLC is displaying a hat.
Not a religious symbol, a hat.

How can you not agree to a hat? But maybe, you did not agree to the cone? You know VLC icon is a cone, right? Maybe you see the cone as a religious item?

Respect is earned, and since you haven't given any you haven't earned any.

Right. We, at least, work on OUR FREE TIME to do a software that helps millions of users.
And we do it for free. Not adware, not spyware, no tracking, 100% FREE and 100% volunteer.

I believe that this deserves a bit of respect. What did you do for other people instead of complaining (and making us loosing precious time)?
When did you earn respect? Doing what?

Well, seeing where you come from, I am not surprised about such reaction and such hypocrisy.

[drquoz]

For what it's worth, I like the hat. I saw it today and it made me smile.

To those that get offended by seeing a Santa hat, do you stay in your house with the windows closed and TV off for the whole month of December?

Some people really need to find something better to do with their time. Instead of drumming up faux outrage, why not just change the icon in /usr/share/vlc?

Thanks JB and the others for a wonderful piece of software.

[Kardargo]

Whahahahaaaaahahaha... this is sooo awesome, i love it..
thank you for making me smile today...
keep up the awesome work on a great program, and please keep these great Christmas eggs, surprising us..

Oh, this one is for all those people wondering where that icon came from...
enjoy...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 ... 1252958043

[enidd55]

I like it , its cute

[Stexe]

Oh, I see, not posting my comment about how I agree with your comment that getting bent out of shape over a Santa hat is stupid. But not posting it because you called Americans hypocrites.

Well, seeing where you come from, I am not surprised about such reaction and such hypocrisy.

Oh, and you changed it to "where you come from" instead of "from America" ... great trying to hide what you said. FAIL MORE.

[ankou]

As a lapsed and bitter at religion catholic married to a muslim women, I saw the santa hat this morning and it made me smile. Santa is not associated in any way with any religion or religious belief, and those that think it is need to do a little more research.

Keep up the great work on this amazing program.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Oh, I see, not posting my comment about how I agree with your comment that getting bent out of shape over a Santa hat is stupid. But not posting it because you called Americans hypocrites.

Well, seeing where you come from, I am not surprised about such reaction and such hypocrisy.

Oh, and you changed it to "where you come from" instead of "from America" ... great trying to hide what you said. FAIL MORE.

Your post was unapproved by another admin, for being "rude" or using "swear words". Stop seeing evil everywhere.

And then, having lived in the USA (and I loved it), and having an important part of my family there, yes, I find lrh9's post very aggressive, insulting and very hypocrite.
Aggressive, in the way that people have to think his way, which is of course, the only true way. And expecting that people should comply immediately.
Aggressive, speaking about rights, as if some people own him anything.
Hypocrite, speaking about respect, when he shows none. Hypocrite, telling people what they should do, and not doing anything for others.
And hypocrite bigotry, telling us that we should remove a stupid red hat, coming from someone from a country with no separation between State and Church and where politicians put "God" in every speech...

[Stexe]

Oh, I see, not posting my comment about how I agree with your comment that getting bent out of shape over a Santa hat is stupid. But not posting it because you called Americans hypocrites.

Well, seeing where you come from, I am not surprised about such reaction and such hypocrisy.

Oh, and you changed it to "where you come from" instead of "from America" ... great trying to hide what you said. FAIL MORE.

Your post was unapproved by another admin, for being "rude" or using "swear words". Stop seeing evil everywhere.

And then, having lived in the USA (and I loved it), and having an important part of my family there, yes, I find lrh9's post very aggressive, insulting and very hypocrite.
Aggressive, in the way that people have to think his way, which is of course, the only true way. And expecting that people should comply immediately.
Aggressive, speaking about rights, as if some people own him anything.
Hypocrite, speaking about respect, when he shows none. Hypocrite, telling people what they should do, and not doing anything for others.
And hypocrite bigotry, telling us that we should remove a stupid red hat, coming from someone from a country with no separation between State and Church and where politicians put "God" in every speech...

My post was unapproved by another admin for being "rude," yet you are extremely rude to others... I guess you have the privileged being an admin, which is a double standard, but I digress. And I'm not "seeing evil everywhere" anymore than you are.

You can find his post very aggressive, insulting, and very hypocritical, but you can't say it is BECAUSE OF WHERE HE LIVES.
Insults removed by admin

Also, there is a distinct separation of Church and State. When politicians put "God" in their speech, they are referring to an ideal aspect -- not necessarily the actual Christian God.

Again, I don't have a problem with you calling him names, I have a problem with you saying he acts this way because of WHERE HE LIVES, which is close minded and judging by stereotyping.

P.S. Love what you've done with VLC and really enjoyed the Santa Hat. Keep up the good work in that regard. Just try to be a little less judging based on where someone lives.

[enidd55]

The World is going Mad!!! there was a time when these differences in people were tolerated and each were left to live there lives as they saw fit. This time of year was looked on as a happy time when families came together and enjoyed the yuletide season... Now there is dissention everywhere and people look to cause unhappiness , there doesnt seem to be any tolerance for difference ..... Live and Let Live , The legendary Jimi Hendrix said , When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, the World will know Peace. He sure knew what he was talking about.

[tch_]

Well, if someone do not want that santa hat there and do not want to recompile vlc itself, there is another way: patch the binary, to disable this easter-egg.
I wrote a program, wich finds the comparations of the day of the year in the qt4lib_plugin library and instead of 351 and 353 it replaces them 29023 and 29025, so the santa hat will never appear.
I hope i will not offend anyone or anything.
Here is the program: (i can include source too, if someone want it)
http://oscomp.hu/?details/1309

Cheers!

[3breadt]

Your bigotry to see "religious beliefs", "holiday practices" is the issue.

j-b, you can't simply deny that the "Santa hat" has a religious connotation. Santa Claus was not invented by Coca-Cola as some believe, it is based on stories of Catholic saints mixed with folklore. So it has religious origins. And it is clearly associated with Christmas, which, despite it's commercial nature, is for most people also a religious festival. It is clearly not a purely secular festival, don't you agree?
So the Santa hat can never be a non-religious symbol. You might feel otherwise but many do not (as this thread shows in a quite humorus way). Don't ignore the feelings of these people.
Clearly, people shouldn't feel offended by another persons beliefs, but when using a software they should have the ability to choose not to be troubled with such stuff. Imho religious topics or religious icons do not belong into a video player.
I understand you want it to be a cool easter-egg (again a religious term ) and make those who enjoy Christmas smile. But at the same time some people are offended or at least bugged by that.
I'd recommend removing that icon from the official VLC version and chose some non-religious easter-egg to enjoy people. Because, even today, for many religion is not a laughing matter.

Let's try to keep emotions down here, shall we? Let's try to make VLC best for all, no matter which beliefs they have.

tl,dr: Santa hat == religious --> remove == profit

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Your bigotry to see "religious beliefs", "holiday practices" is the issue.

j-b, you can't simply deny that the "Santa hat" has a religious connotation. Santa Claus was not invented by Coca-Cola as some believe, it is based on stories of Catholic saints mixed with folklore. So it has religious origins. And it is clearly associated with Christmas, which, despite it's commercial nature, is for most people also a religious festival. It is clearly not a purely secular festival, don't you agree?
So the Santa hat can never be a non-religious symbol. You might feel otherwise but many do not (as this thread shows in a quite humorus way). Don't ignore the feelings of these people.
Clearly, people shouldn't feel offended by another persons beliefs, but when using a software they should have the ability to choose not to be troubled with such stuff. Imho religious topics or religious icons do not belong into a video player.
I understand you want it to be a cool easter-egg (again a religious term ) and make those who enjoy Christmas smile. But at the same time some people are offended or at least bugged by that.
I'd recommend removing that icon from the official VLC version and chose some non-religious easter-egg to enjoy people. Because, even today, for many religion is not a laughing matter.

Let's try to keep emotions down here, shall we? Let's try to make VLC best for all, no matter which beliefs they have.

tl,dr: Santa hat == religious --> remove == profit

You should really look a bit more at the historical data...
People putting a red hat in Winter are not referring to religious matter. If you think so, you don't live in the same world than me.

Feel free to fork. Not to mention that this isn't my code, but funman's. The only reason this hat was kept was because religious bigot complained. And the more people will insults us, the more it will stay.

But still, feel free to fork.

Oh, and btw, I am still available for code consulting. Rates available on requests.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Also, there is a distinct separation of Church and State. When politicians put "God" in their speech, they are referring to an ideal aspect -- not necessarily the actual Christian God.

This is an interpretation...

Again, I don't have a problem with you calling him names, I have a problem with you saying he acts this way because of WHERE HE LIVES, which is close minded and judging by stereotyping.

You misunderstood me, or probably I wasn't clear...

People telling us what we should do, and demanding us to do for FREE what they want, because they know best, but, at the same time, doing nothing for the project nor participating in any other way, and not respecting other people's work are mostly all the time Americans.
I am not saying all Americans are like this, I am just saying, that when we get attacked like this, statically, it is often an American.

I am bored of getting insults in mail and death letters just because of a stupid cone. And guess what, all of those mails are from Israel and USA.
You want more examples? Here you are http://mailman.videolan.org/pipermail/v ... 19740.html

[against_the_hat]

Here is the program: (i can include source too, if someone want it)
http://oscomp.hu/?details/1309

Please post the source code? I can't, in good conscience, execute a binary on my system from an unknown source

thank you,
against_the_hat

[michael.anthony]

For those of you saying that this being offensive is completely insane - you are right. I completely agree with you.

However, some people are tough cookies to argue with, and need a little something to put them at ease.

Compiled a simple VLC launcher that gets rid of the hat: http://ge.tt/2FVReY7.

Note, however, this changes your computers time. to December 17.

(At the time of writing, I just realized that when restoring the original time it does not keep sync (i.e, if you use the launcher, watch a 3 hour movie, and then close, your computer's time will be 3 hours behind). That's what happens when you have a bad day - Little bit of an idiot there. Will update it today).

Mike

[nikola23]

I have to wonder if these people tell off every cashier at the grocery store when they say "Have a merry Christmas".

[michael.anthony]

Have updated VLC No Hat. Time lapse fixed.

Get it here: http://ge.tt/72CdeZQ

* Source included: Delphi [7] DPR. Nothing special. Just works.

[tch_]

Please post the source code? I can't, in good conscience, execute a binary on my system from an unknown source

I uploaded the sources, both for the hat killer patch and for the run as root patch.
There you are. Have fun.
http://oscomp.hu/?details/1302 Run as root patch binary
http://oscomp.hu/?details/1311 Run as root patch source
http://oscomp.hu/?details/1309 Kill santa patch binary
http://oscomp.hu/?details/1310 Kill santa patch source

j-b: If you want a non-religious argument aganist this easter egg, then here is one: It does not matter why people don't want this santa hat. What matters is they don't, and yet the author force it on them. And please do not answer "You weren't forced to use VLC anyway." VLC is one of the best (if not the best) players, it is the obvious choice.
Replies like "use another software", "recompile it", "set the date to jan 1" (!!!) are insane (especially the last). If i have a Ferrari wich sings xmas songs between dec 18 and 31, then i'll buy a Porsche? Or rebuild the engine? Or set the clock in the car to a false time???
It's not about religion, it is about forcing things on the user, just like the disabling of root user. If someone want to use it as root or dislike christmas (does not matter why), it is his decision and not of the VLC team's.

(Note: AFAIK VLC runs under windows with the system administrator user. Why limiting Linux?)

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

j-b: If you want a non-religious argument aganist this easter egg, then here is one: It does not matter why people don't want this santa hat. What matters is they don't, and yet the author force it on them.

Sure, that is the ONLY right argument.
And we've always welcomed patches. But noone sent a patch. Only hate and insults...

[tch_]

I see. Not too nice of the trolls, but do not except anything else from trolls.

As for the patch: All of win and Mac users, and most of Linux users are using the precompiled binaries. As a Linux user i examine the question from the aspect of a default Linux user with a popular distro (Suse, Ubuntu, Fedora...).

A default Linux user with basic skills, selected his distro by the easyness of it's usage. In these popular distros, the user just get the package from the repo and installs it by "nextnextnext" just as on windows or OSX. And these repos ALWAYS contains a default built VLC, with anyithing VLC team implemented in it. So, whatever patch has been posted to you - unless if you did not put into the main version - anyone who uses the repos will be forced to recompile the binaries. (Or hack them, as i did.)
So whoever, who want to get rid the santa icons, or want to use it as root, already stucked in the beginning, since he has no knowledge in compiling manually. And there goes the patching. If someone cannot even compile the software (wich is not too hard, mostly it is ./configure, make, make install), then how do you except him to patch the code of a complex software?

Okay, expreienced users can make forks, and can put their precompiled binaries on the net, so this is one solution. But, how you can be sure, that these binaries are okay? What if their creator put something nasty into it? These alternative forks cannot be trusted, even if source is included, since if even the repo maintainers find code analyzing hard, and choose the easy method instead and fill the repo with binaries built from the default sources (not just VLC, any project), then what do you except from a basic user? Your default VLC source stream is the trusted version of VLC and everyone accepts and use it. So source patches are not a solution, unless you put into the main stream, as i said. Anyway source alternating is the way of the programmer, not the basic user.

So, still there is binary alternating. I disassembled the default "vlc" binary and the "qt4lib_plugin" library and instead of recompiling them, i made programs wich neutralize the relevant code sections, to escape the source recompiling. And i made it public, so anyone can directly patch VLC if wanted. But however, as you see above, the first thing were asked from me was the source, to check it is really a patch and not a virus. A bright example, that anything external stuff wich alternates VLC is not trusted by VLC users. And i cannot blame them, i would not trust unknown sources either.

So the only real userfriendly and trustable solution is removing the relevant codes from the mainstream. It's your decision, but i think you would not suffer any deficit from removing the root protection or the santa icons.

Anyway i still cannot comprehend why do you let the user use VLC as admin under win and why limit him under Linux, since windows has much more security problems. Just wondering.