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>Most of things Real Networks and others have done happened because of Microsoft. Why? When they figured Microsoft can easily steal their media extensions

Real screwed up way more than just that. I remember a time when it took more than 60 clicks to turn off all their advertising, spyware, file extension hijacking, realplayer notification crap, junk icon installers, auto downloaders, toolbars, bug-me-when-I-open-the-program type warnings (you didn't buy me, you didn't update me, you don't love me anymore, do you like clicking yes? (yes/no) etc.), and about a billion other pieces of garbage. Once you got the thing installed, you spent another 10 minutes adjusting the interface so it was a MEDIA PLAYER and not a WEB BROWSER (WTF???!?!?!?!!!) I don't think Microsoft caused all that.

And that's if you could get the software. I also remember when the "free" link was about the size of a dime... on the THIN side. And getting to the actual software after finding that link took answering a maze of questions on their website. Otherwise you spent $19.99 on an even MORE bloated, crappier version! It was amazing, $19.99 and all you got was an EQUALIZER, more GARBAGE, and the ability to rip CDs to a format so low quality you'd rather listen to 45s over an AM radio.

To add insult to injury, the download size itself was incredibly large for the time, taking incredible amounts of time to download. All in all, not including download time, we were already talking 60 minutes of your time wasted from www.real.com to finishing rebooting (yes, that was required too).

This really sums it up well, I just wish I could find the post on slashdot years ago that listed all the clicks required to make realplayer not suck at the time. I'm sure it was over 60...

I wish there was a link to the complaints.

http://jogin.com/weblog/archives/2004/02/29/real_o bnoxious

For the curious: Real Player's Questionable Practices. On the other hand, Some might be cheered by the fact that they Bypassed FairPlay.

http://jogin.com/weblog/archives/2004/02/29/real_o bnoxious

"Unfortunately, playing video streams is only a very small aspect of what Real Player does; Real Player, most prominently, is a small bastard with inferiority complex and delusions of grandeur, not too different from Napoleon. Although Real Player's task is simple and limited to a certain timeframe, Real Player defaults to running at all times, whether its limited functionality is needed or not, and claims a seat for itself in the throne commonly called the systray.
When you install Real Player, you can either choose an express install, or custom install. If you pick express install, Real Player simply installs itself with every option and feature turned on. If you choose the custom install, the process is a blend between an installer and a Pokemon-like game of gotta-uncheck-all-checkboxes."

couldn't have said it better

Educate yourself

Here's the best listing of the crimes of Real Networks that I've seen...
http://jogin.com/weblog/archives/2004/02/29/real_o bnoxious

I think you'll find the answers to these questions here http://jogin.com/weblog/archives/2004/03/07/real_p roof

Seems Real is 'hooked on [the revenue produced by these features] like heroin'. The post there pretty much covers everything except for the choice of the custom interface. They use a custom window on the Mac version too, and it just looks out of place and eyesore-ish. Yuck.

Why is the free version the hardest version to find on your website?

Why must I choose a custom install and play a game of "catch-em-all" to avoid some of these issues?

Why does Real assume I'm interested in news, updates, libraries, or any of the nonsense that it is configured for by your company?

In short, why does Real feel the need to be so Obnoxious? These are "real" questions posed by "real" users, like here and supported by your own employees!

Why is the free version the hardest version to find on your website?

Why must I choose a custom install and play a game of "catch-em-all" to avoid some of these issues?

Why does Real assume I'm interested in news, updates, libraries, or any of the nonsense that it is configured for by your company?

In short, why does Real feel the need to be so Obnoxious? These are "real" questions posed by "real" users, like here and supported by your own employees!

Funny to see this under Apple...it should be filed under YRO. (Those who aren't interested in reading a mini-rant should check out this +5 Informative article:
Real Proof - Apple users should be scared as f*** of letting real anywhere near their computers).

The reason I say this is because I just had a "fun" experience ove the weekend where Real One player deleted songs off my computer. I have a large inventory of mp3's that I legally ripped from CDs that I own. I recently bought a Palm T3 handheld, which comes with Real Player pre-installed.

I figured "why not" and installed Real One player. Made sure to un-check all the "Please contact me with special messages" and "please update me automatically" options...

Everything went great...for about 10 minutes. I was playing an mp3 and the sound was kind of fuzzy. So I stopped the playback to check some settings. When I went back to continue playing the songs, I received the dialog box "the song file you're requesting cannot be found!"

Ummm...wtf? I was just listening to it 30 seconds ago. I browsed to my network share where I keep my mp3's...it was gone. So, I jumped up to check actual server itself...it was for real...the file had disappeared from the harddrive! (incidentally, it's a RH 9 box running a samba share - maybe its some sort of bug in samba? Probably not (read on)).

Now, keep in mind that I had been playing these mp3s WinAmp and even Windos Media for over a year with no problem.

I lost 3 songs of which I had legally ripped from my own CDs, plus about 10 j-pop songs that I had downloaded only because they're not available in the US yet...something fishy is going on here.

The sad thing is that I actually prefer using their plugin for watching video clips, but now I'm thinking of switching to Windows Media... :(

That is complete bullshit.

Read this.

Memo's from people that use to work at Real or still work there. In one of them, she says the bbc player is exactly the same as the other one.

Two great articles on the sordid history of RealPlayer and their lows can be found here: Real Obnoxious and Real Proof.

Included are some testimonials from (allegedly) actual Real co. employees.

Two great articles on the sordid history of RealPlayer and their lows can be found here: Real Obnoxious and Real Proof.

Included are some testimonials from (allegedly) actual Real co. employees.