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VLC Running Kickstarter Campaign To Fund Native Windows 8 App
New submitter aaron44126 writes "Some VLC developers have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of a native port of VLC as a Windows 8 app. The goal is to create an app with a UI that fits into the rest of the Windows 8 ecosystem that supports the playback of all of the types of files that VLC already supports. Playback of optical media (DVD/VCD/BD) is also on the list. They hope to use as much existing code as possible while doing whatever necessary to get VLC running in the 'Metro' environment and meet Microsoft's requirements for distribution through the Windows Store. Porting to ARM so that it can run on Windows RT devices will happen after the Windows 8 app is complete. The campaign has actually been going on for almost two weeks but they published their first update yesterday, in which they announced their intent to produce a Windows Phone 8 port as well."
I wasn't always opposed to Windows 8 and I generally look forward to new operating systems of all flavors with excitement. The same way I look toward new game consoles and new video cards. It wasn't until I was able to try it for myself that I soured on it. True, you can (more or less) have a (primarily) Windows 7 experience. However, it's still too Frankenstein-ish. I don't like the bland look, the focus on single-application interfaces, the Live-tie-in, and the touch-focus.
That said, even if they refused to change most of these things in Windows 9, simply getting rid of the stitched-together stuff would be an improvement so it was all one thing or all another and even with a touch-focus, it would ideally more properly wrap the new style around more traditional input methods for people not looking to have an iPad "one thing at a time" experience.
This is the image that popped into my head, when I tried Windows 8.
I don't expect Windows 9 to take an entirely new direction and shrug off all these changes that they seem to be pivoting the entire company around, but I believe it will be more refined, more targeted, and less schizophrenic. I want to see a change to that as quickly as possible and I think that a lack of community and developer support of Windows 7 would only drive the urgency of that focus and production to Microsoft.
There are a lot of things VLC could work on that I'd chip in $10 or $20 for, but Windows 8 isn't one of them (even though I'm sure they would justify it as a necessary thing, to maintain the continued relevance of VLC through Windows 8 and into the next iteration of the OS beyond it).