Windows Media Player in Linux

mr lee writes "Today CodeWeavers released CrossOver plugin 1.1 which now supports Windows Media Player 6.4 under Linux. As much I would not like to see or support sites that use Windows Media shite, its still really nice to have this option. Not too mention kick ass QuickTime playing." Update: 02/27 18:30 GMT by H : I've actually been using this - it's done really really well. I'm planning on doing a fuller review soon, but it's very well done.

Comments

Re:what about Mplayer

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

Mplayer is sweet, I use it as my only (video) player on my FreeBSD box.

However, while it does support Quicktime, almost all of the newly released QT movies are compressed with Sorenson (sp?) codec, which is closed source, and Apple licenses it from another company. Therefore, unless Apple, and Sorenson (sp?) both give permission (read: unlikely), you won't find a legal open-source player. Apple (and others) can port the app to different platforms, and others still can make a shell for the application (read: what Codeweavers did), but you still don't get the benifits of open-source programmers optimizing the heck out of the program.

There's something wrong here

[rjamestaylor]

Here's a story, basing Microsoft products as "shite", about using said Microsoft product in Linux and praises Apple's just-as-proprietary media format. /*Head spins*/

So, am I to understand that MS sucks so very bad that we need to run out, install a different MS-free OS and then get a utility to run pieces of MS software to have a decent computing experience yet give no "thank you" to MS for making a product that enables us to have that enjoyable computing experience?

This reminds me of street beggars spitting on people who give them money for being capitalist pigs. Sheesh.

Re:Way to go

[Gleef]

Sinjun trolls:

Way to go there buddy. Kick them for using the most widely supported media format out there. How dare they ensure that the largest number of people can view their stuff!?

Um, the MPEG-2 Video Codec works in Windows Media Player, Real Player, Quicktime Viewer, DVD Players, VCD Players, and dozens of Free Software programs on pretty much any platform with decent processor speed and video specifications. It produces good quality video in a reasonable file size as well, and lets the producer decide just how much to compress the video. By any sane measure, it is the "most widely supported [video] media format out there".

Calling a Windows-only media format that just one program can view "the most widely supported" is either naively ill-informed or a deliberate lie.

What else can MP v6.4 handle?

[antdude]

I have MPlayer, Xine, and Oogle. I can play DivX4, MPEG, etc. What else am I missing that Media Player v6.4 can handle? Is it only WMV and WMA? If so, then I thought it was only supported in 7.x+?

Thank you in advance.

Re:HOW ABOUT

[fferreres]

'Free' software only really appeals to those people that refuse to pay for software outright... and would end up pirating pay software anyway.

How about:

'Free' software only really appeals to those people that refuse to pirate...

I've "discovered" the fact that i can't switch many people to Linux because they better like pirating Windows stuff. The very second things become unpirateable, they'll start bitching like babies and will run to Linux OR pay for cheap alternatives to the defacto standards of today.

Re:Likely Not Legal

[jafuser]

You don't really need a WMP >6.4 anyway, as it plays all codecs just as well as 7. Actually better, since it's a bit more efficient than the bloatware that is WMP7+.

Everyone: But this please!

[Dwonis]

Some Slashdotters don't seem to understand the significance of this.

What's the #1 reason why people still use Windows, even though they hate its broken crappiness? Alternatives like Linux and BSD lack backward-compatibility with Windows.

What does does the CrossOver plugin offer? Partial, but significant, backward-compatibility with Windows. Net result: more people use Linux, so more Linux-native software is developed, Microsoft is marginalized, and everybody wins.

I just bought the downloadable version of the plugin, you really should, too.