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Real's Reality

Posted by timothy on from the best-wishes dept.

prostoalex writes "While Real Networks claims its market share and low profit numbers are the result of Microsoft's anti-competitive behavior, there are some alternative views. News.com has an article on Real's reality, which reveals many interesting practices that Real resorted to. "Although RealNetworks had already licensed Microsoft's formats for use in its media player, it didn't have Windows Media licenses for its server technology. Undeterred, the company found a way to essentially replicate the Windows Media code, trumpeting its new software as the Internet's first "universal" streaming system", says News.com." Read on for more.

"There's also an interesting conversation going on at Jogin.com, which started with this post from the author, basically a rant, describing how inconvenient and even hostile Real Player is. It would be like any other rant, except an employee of Real Networks replied with some insights into the company's wrongdoings and somewhat explained Real's undeterred hostility towards those who downloaded the free version of its player. Furthermore, a consultant, who used to work at Real Networks, replied, sharing some questionable practices Real engaged in, such as hiding a variety of "add-ons" at the bottom of the page, hoping that the user would not scroll down to un-check the selections, and then charging his credit card for add-ons when he signed up for paid version on Real One."

3 of 460 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Car Talk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    "I like what the car talk guys had to say about Real"

    Oh, you mean those guys on NPR, which receives generous funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?

  2. Re:request for comment by kommakazi · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    ogg is pointless...people need to get over it. mp3 works just as well (if not better) and is actually widely supported.

  3. Re:Respect *just* for porting to Linux? Why? by Anonymous_Scardy_Cat · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Whats the point of having any kind of media playing software for the Linux OS. I didn't think people that used it understood anything asthetic like misic or moving pictures