Flip: A Simple Camera Done Right

“Sometime back I gave a pretty strong pan review of a couple of
“toys” that were not compatible with GNU/Linux — with open
standards really, since the community ensures that free software is
compliant — and were therefore nothing more than a
disappointment to my kids. Recently, I fully expected to repeat
this depressing experience when my brother-in-law gave my son a
“Flip” digital video camera, but I was pleasantly surprised: it
works exactly as it should. That seemed worth a column in
itself.

“Too often, I’ve found that low-budget hardware —
especially items sold largely as toys for kids — have
Windows-dependency built into them at a very low level. For some
reason, low-end manufacturers think that it will serve them better
to build in rigid dependencies rather than just sticking to open
standards.”

Complete Story