Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

QuickTime To Get Boost From "More Accurate" Statistics

Posted by pudge on from the statistics-is-as-statistics-does dept.

Justen writes "Nielsen is expected to release a new set of ratings for media players on July 1. Apple lobbied the firm to use new methods to form usage statistics. The new methods are expected to dramatically increase the reported market share of QuickTime. Nielsen says it doesn't reflect a dramatic jump in actual installations, just a more accurate picture of what's been there all along. The article also mentions the new beta of QuickTime 6 and its support for MPEG-4, ahead of Real and Microsoft."

4 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Alternate Title Large Corp Lobbies To Change St by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 4, Informative

    Read the article.

    Apple got them to recalculate the stats in their favor because their earlier algorithms were, um, erroneous.

    Then think about this quote, from Mark Twain I believe. "There are three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies, and statistics."

    Statistics is all about taking raw data and making predictive or explanatory statements from them.

    How can you count Quicktime usage?

    How about downloads per month?
    How about upgrades per release?
    How about hits to Apple.com/quicktime per month?
    How about number of .movs downloaded per month?

    All of them are reasonable.

    Would you believe, that until now, Quicktime .movs streamed to web browsers weren't counted? That's what Apple convinced Nielson to do. Count embedded .movs.

    --

    GPL Deconstructed
  2. Re:MPEG-4 support by Aram+Fingal · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have been able to play all MPEG-4 and DivX versions of AVI except for DivX 5.0.2 with Quictime 6 beta and a few components downloaded free from Versiontracker.

    For DivX 5.0.2, you can use the free (GPL) program VirtualDub (www.virtualdub.org) on Windows to convert the file to a codec which QuickTime can understand and then transfer the file back to a Mac. Be warned, it took hours for Windows to convert a file I had from DivX 5.0.2 to Cinepak. Fortunately, it only took minutes for QuickTime Pro on the Mac to convert the file back from Cinepak to standard MPEG-4.

  3. Re:Get rid of the ad by andya16 · · Score: 2, Informative

    to get rid of the ad, move up your system time a few years, start quicktime, click the 'later' button [for the last time], and reset your clock. you may need a restart in there.

  4. Statistics have already been released. by finnatic · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are two *newer* stories on cnet than the one referenced:

    http://news.com.com/2100-1023-938423.html

    and

    http://news.com.com/2100-1023-938827.html.

    The result? Apple is closer to it's competitors, but Real still leads, and is losing it's lead to MSFT.

    A better link for Nielsen/Net Ratings (or whatever they're called - at least it's not "monday"):
    http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/