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New Windows Media Player Leaks
TacoLL writes "A new version of Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player 11, is set to be made public on Wednesday, however, it has found its way into the hands of internet users before its public release. Flexbeta has some early screenshots of the next Media Player for Windows users."
In the news today: Somone built an early release of KDE by hacking into their publically available anonymous SVN repository and downloading the code. They then released screen snapshots to the Internet. We now turn to our live reporter in bit-land with this breathtaking story...
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I have a PIII running Windows 98SE with Windows Media Player 9 - it is very slow to load. Most of the time that I open Windows Media Player, it is to watch a quick video clip - for this, I don't need the whole music guide and library to load. It would be nice if Microsoft would make two separate players - one to quickly play short clips, and one to manage my library.
On my Linux machine (also a PIII) I use MPlayer, which can play almost any type of file and is much faster. If I want to manage my music library, I'll open up amaroK or something similar.
What about Windows Media Encoder 11. I would love to use 10, but it blows at trying to encode VOB files. Using a popular format with surround sound support would be awsome.
:(
I know it's blasphemy to hype up Microsoft, but their WMV format is really good. In fact, right up there with DivX. Just wish their next Encoder appliaction didn't suck so much ass
Life is not for the lazy.
mplayer2.exe is actually Windows Media Player 6.4 if you take the time to check out the About dialog box.
If you like that however, you should definitely check out "mplayer2's" open-source clone, Media Player Classic, a full featured Media Player.
Your hopes are not in vain. Just read any review of M$ AdCenter or Vista (train wreck ... not compelling to human beings). The slow down is not gradual, it's instant, and the damn thing might not work at all.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
What planet do you live on? There's lot's excitement for people who discover GNU/Linux. Expectations are typically low, thanks to massive FUD campaigns. A by product of that FUD is an air of the dangerous and new that's irresistible to many. Those that bother to try and stick with it long enough to overcome the bad habits of commercial software are amply rewarded. In the end, they find the joy of free software, which continues to grow. Browsing software repositories is like walking through a candy store where everything is free and the candy only gets better as time goes on. New programs make it feel like Christmas all year long. What does the five year and counting M$ train wreck release cycle have to match that? Zip, zero, zilch, hype, FUD and other hot air.
Most of the people I know have barely heard of free software and are heavily FUDed about it. They have this strange notion that it's hard to use and won't work with their hardware. Some even confuse it with copyright violation and think it's somehow tainted and immoral. Big players, like IBM, Lowes, Chrysler, etc, have helped to alleviate the "rebel" image but the FUD still stick because the big dumb vendors like Dell still don't offer a GNU/Linux desktop machines for end users.
Anyone who's used a GNU/Linux system for any length of time knows the FUD for the BS but the discovery never ends. Media players are a prime example. I've been using free software since Red Hat 5.x in 1998 and I've watched a steady and constant improvement. Back then, things were so nasty I did not even bother with sound. Then came vorbis, sox, autoconfiguration, ALSA, xine and suddenly audio is easy. Today, you can get live CDs that run Amarok, which has to be one of the finest media players available. Amarok excels as a media player as Konqueror and Firefox excel as browsers. Everywhere you look at a GNU/Linux system you see more excellence. The product is greater than the sum of the parts and M$ can't keep up to save their life. Hell, they are finally getting a browser with tabs and a multiple desktop GUI, but it's so bloated and top heavy with, virus checking and DRM it won't even work.
The final, unmatchable and exciting discovery is how free software really works. Far from being evil, free software is morally superior. No free software project has ever sued a public school for copying a text editor and none ever will misuse the government and laws in such a hideous way. What Microsoft dissmisses as "Communism" is actually co-operative capitalism and free market innovation at it's finest. Getting something for nothing and finding out that's the way it should have been all along feels great. The lies and harm M$ heaps on free software all backfire and the user is left with an unshakable commitment to their own software freedom.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.