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Inside Windows XP Reduced Media Edition
An anonymous reader writes "Flexbeta.net has got it's take on Windows XP Reduced Media Edition, which is basically Windows XP Pro stripped of its Windows Media Player. To sum it up, there is hardly any noticable difference between XP RME and XP Pro, except for the welcome screen and Windows not recognizing their own file format. The article hints how this may be the beggining to a Windows OS without any Microsoft applications. Bye-bye Internet Explorer?"
How about call me when there's Reduced DRM Edition.
-1 (Troll) is antihammer
... I thought Europe still had some objections to the words "reduced media"?
wow, an operating system that doesnt let you play media files. maybe once they make an OS which doesnt have a browser, they can further gut it by forcing MS to ship an OS without networking capabilities, or the ability to run any programs.
;-)
Actually, for business purposes, removing 'frivolous' functionality like Windows Media Player could be really useful. I suppose it's one way of reducing the number of 'hilarious' videos and TV adverts being forwarded by office workers...
Myself, I spent a few hours last week beating WinXP Professional into a less intrusive, non-ugly mode. There are only a few Windows apps I actually need to run on my home PC (namely, games and the Source mapping SDK stuff!) and most of the included Windows applications are junk to me. If this Reduced Media thing had been available when I ordered my stuff, I would have got it...
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
The big question: Is there a performance improvement without all that fluff? (Especially on older PC's)
This is what I really like about Linux, stuff is turned off by default. This ensures security and saves valuable resources. Microsoft seems to have everything enabled out of the box.
As far as I'm concerned, the US government is turning a blind eye to Microsoft's activities, effectively being a blank check to do anything they want.
BTW: 1/2 of all workers on the Airbus A380 project are USA workers.
I agree with your point, but how does the EU's proposal solve the problem? Now when they click on a media file windows will prompt the user to download WMP, and we're back to the original problem... I would have rather have them keep WMP but bundle other media player apps with their installation.
On the contrary: if Windows includes basic antivirus, then Symantec/whoever has to come up with Double Super Plus Turbo Extended Anti-Virus. It has to have New! Improved! features just to be a saleable proposition compared to the freebie thrown in with Windows. This virtually guarantees it will be bloatware.
The other thing is that the large majority of users will never bother installing any product other than the basic one included in Windows. This shrinks the potential market for competitors and will inevitably drive some vendors out of a previously viable market.
In the short term, bundling is good for the consumer, because it's "something for nothing" but in the long term it's driving competitors in other markets out of business by bundling software at below cost with a product in which MS has a near monopoly, and that's bad for competition and bad for consumers.
THAT's what the EU Media Player case was about.
I've been writing software since 1977. I remember when a "PC" meant a Commodore PET/CBM, bundled with its builtin green screen, keyboard and tape drive. No choices. Or an Altair 8080, which was built by its owner from parts sometimes as simple as a switch bank - too many choices. Nowadays, there's a market for companies like Dell, HP, Gateway, which bundle standardized parts and their own specialized components, to make the vast array of choices into manageable packages.
Listen to your own advice: "everybody is just like me" is a fallacy. Getting only the same WMP with the same XP for eveyone sure does save on support costs, and avoids those confusing choices. But of course we want to be able to have the PC environment best suited to us. So there is clearly a market for a retail layer which assembles HW, OS and app components from the galaxy of options, into an understandable set of choices from which the mass of goal-oriented, tech-disinterested consumers can buy. Linux, with Linspire and other vendors, is delivering that model. Even Windows could work that way, with brands like AOL or Electronic Arts, or even TV brands like CNBC putting together PC bundles to serve their market segments. But Windows bundling competes unfairly with all those options. Consumers don't get manageable choices, competitors don't stand a chance. That's a middle ground that's being explored profitably for all, wherever it's not preempted by something like a Windows monopoly. We deserve better, and we can get it.
--
make install -not war
Let Fujitsu ship with WMP, let Sony ship with RealPlayer, let HP ship with iTunes, let Microsoft sell Windows:WMP edition and Windows:Reduced, etc.
Why force WMP on the desktop? When a user clicks on a media file, no prompting will occur because an alternative media player will/could/should be available. And WMP is just one of many alternative media players.
GPL Deconstructed