VLC For Windows 8 Reaches $65,000 Funding Goal On Kickstarter

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VLC For Windows 8 Reaches $65,000 Funding Goal On Kickstarter

Posted by timothy on Sunday December 23, 2012 @11:18AM from the consume-your-delicious-media dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A Metro version of VLC, the popular free and open-source media player, is coming to Windows 8. On Sunday, the VideoLAN organization reached its funding goal on Kickstarter for its Windows 8-specific app. There are also plans to port it afterwards to Windows Phone 8. The project has now been funded by over 2,500 backers, who have pledged more than the £40,000 ($65,000) goal."

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VLC by webmistressrachel · 2012-12-23 11:19 · Score: 2

Why wouldn't the usual version work on Win8? I was under the impression that there is a Classic-like interface, sans Start Menu?

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1. Re:VLC by ClaraBow · 2012-12-23 11:21 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  This is for the Metro version which will work on RT, Windows phone and Windows x86
2. Re:VLC by Threni · 2012-12-23 11:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Presumably it's quicker and easier to fund a complete new version of VLC that it is to work out how the fuck you're supposed to launch and run a program under Windows 8?
3. Re:VLC by Nerdfest · 2012-12-23 11:26 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  ... assuming Microsoft 'approves' it. Buying into a locked ecosystem is a mistake. It's rewarding a company for taking the ownership of your hardware away.
4. Re:VLC by ClaraBow · 2012-12-23 11:33 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  True. There is a good chance that it might not be approved if MS wants to push it's media player to drive music and movie sales. We shall see!
5. Re:VLC by JWW · 2012-12-23 11:53 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Just wondering if that one asshole developer who blocked the client on iOS will block it for windows phone as well.
6. Re:VLC by girlintraining · 2012-12-23 12:12 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  ... assuming Microsoft 'approves' it. Buying into a locked ecosystem is a mistake. It's rewarding a company for taking the ownership of your hardware away.
  Well, there's now $65,000 out there willing to test the waters. And the developers don't lose anything if it fails -- only the investors do. I'd guess a lot of that will be spent on the lawyer screwing about over patents... it might be the case that the only thing required is a few edits here and there to surgically transplant the UI. Porting an app usually costs a fraction of the original development cost. If portability was considered from the initial design, it might only require a few hours work to prep it for compiling on a different architecture. And it's open source; Projects that survive as long as VLC has do so because the programmers made it a goal to keep maintenance down. Release one bad app and you'll be supporting it for the rest of your life. :)
  
  --
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7. Re:VLC by vux984 · 2012-12-23 12:21 · Score: 2
  
  It works perfectly fine as a desktop app; and I've got VLC installed myself.
  But this new version should also run on ARM windows RT devices along with Windows phones, where obviously the "usual version" currently does not, and would not really be appropriate user interface-wise even if it did.
  A tablet / touch / full screen version of VLC for that platform makes a lot of sense, and it would be pretty nice on x86 windows 86 systems for watching movies etc -- I'd like it for my HTPC for example.
  I'll keep the classic vlc on my desktop, but there is definitely a place for a so-called 'modern ui' version.
8. Re:VLC by larry+bagina · 2012-12-23 12:23 · Score: 2
  
  He worked for Nokia, so not as likely.
  
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9. Re:VLC by Eirenarch · 2012-12-23 12:45 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  There is zero chance that MS will not improve it. They are desperate for apps and they approve total crap. They will not ban a quality app. Also the music player has nothing to do with selling music. The player is not related to the files you get from their service.
10. Re:VLC by Eirenarch · 2012-12-23 12:50 · Score: 2
  
  Many people may not like the Don't-call-it-Metro UI but here are $65K that like it.
11. Re:VLC by mrbrown1602 · 2012-12-23 12:59 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  That one asshole developer claims on his blog that it is "uncertain" whether or not the terms of the Windows Store are compatible with the GPLv2 and then goes on an incomprehensible rant about the App Store and Applidium (the developers of the short-lived iOS VLC app), all in the name of 'freedom'. As in beer.
  So, yes, in short, he's still an asshole.
12. Re:VLC by Pinhedd · 2012-12-23 14:32 · Score: 2
  
  In order for an application to be perfectly portable between Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Phone 8 it needs to target the WinRT Run Time (related to, but not synonymous with Windows RT). Currently, VLC presumably targets the Win32 runtime which means it will run just fine on Windows 8, but not on Windows RT or Windows Phone 8.
13. Re:VLC by girlintraining · 2012-12-23 14:45 · Score: 2
  
  I'm curious about people moderating this as 'troll'. Do you think a locked ecosystem is a good thing? Do you think rewarding manufacturers who do it is going to result in you having more control over your hardware?
  You had me right up until the third word: Think. No, the moderators do not think. They agree or disagree. Thinking is so Malda-era, and our new Web 3.0 monetization of the synergy of infolectual peer based interaction systems function better without it.
  
  --
  #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
14. Re:VLC by elashish14 · 2012-12-23 15:19 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  The issue is not whether they will approve it or not. The issue is in the principle of acting as if the hardware vendor has the right to choose what software the user and proprietor chooses to run.
  As developers, we should not be complicit this terrible precendent, and we should not contribute in any way to the positive health of this system.
  
  --
  I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
15. Re:VLC by kestasjk · 2012-12-23 15:50 · Score: 2
  
  I like the new UI; one of the big complaints about it is that it's just a start menu that you need to get through to see the standard desktop. That'll change as more apps start to use the new UI, like VLC. I think it's great that an established OSS project is going for cutting edge new platforms under its own steam instead of sitting around and waiting for a new enthusiast to do it (and probably get a bashing from the main dev group for doing so).
  
  --
  // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
16. Re:VLC by SilenceBE · 2012-12-23 18:43 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I was always under the impression his reasoning had to do with his irrational hatred agains iDevice users. When you explain your actions with "I don't care for iDevice users" there isn't much room for discussion.
  
  Now when looking at his resume which is plasterd with Nokia adventures, I have the feeling it has a lot more to do with butthurt and frustration regarding the downfall of Nokia.
  
  The whole freedom, fsf, whatever claim seems also weird for somebody that mentions different software patents on his resume. I find it kind of hypocritical for somebod with high freedom morals.
  
  Seeing his works relations with Nokia I want to bet on it, nithing will happen. That ks typical for such kind of people.
17. Re:VLC by gmhowell · 2012-12-23 19:52 · Score: 2
  
  Thinking is so Malda-era,
  I hope you mean this in the generic sense rather than specifically referring to this website when CmdrTaco was around. Quite frankly, it didn't seem that he gave two shits beginning somewhere around the time when Y2K didn't end the world or maybe right after he proposed.
  Unless you've got a considerably smaller UID to come back with, I'm going to have to say that your longing for some greater, better, more wonderful time is complete and total horseshit. Slashdot has always sucked. At times, off and on, it has sucked slightly less. At the time, the Halloween documents were relevant to day-to-day operations, Wil Wheaton still posted here, my grits were hot, and Natalie Portman left parts of me petrified.
  Get. Off. My. LAWN!
  
  --
  Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
18. Re:VLC by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-24 01:26 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  "look up what happened when they tried to port VLC to the Apple appstore"
  I did. So some company named Applidium took the VLC code, ported it and stuck it in the Apple store. VLC code owner complained. You disagree. Zzzzzz.
19. Re:VLC by drinkypoo · 2012-12-24 01:29 · Score: 2
  
  Yes, what an asshole for preventing his work being used for precisely the purpose he didn't want it used for. It's almost like he put his time and effort into it and you didn't and therefore don't have a leg to stand on but are crying about it anyway because you have a deep sense of entitlement.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
20. Re:VLC by LWATCDR · 2012-12-24 01:38 · Score: 2
  
  A lot of people want someone to else to keep them safe. As long as sideloading is an option I am not going to get too upset about "official app stores".
  The issue for me is, why waste the effort? Windows 8 is not popular at all. It lacks apps and the OS is buggy. Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Windows 8 rt are going to be a bigger fail for Microsoft than Vista ever was. Just as the tech press, Microsoft faithful, and a few techies here and there will pop up with, "It is fine, I have no problems, and You just have to get used to it." End users will hold on to Windows 7 machines for dear life until hardware vendors demand Windows 7 so they can sell hardware. Windows Phone 8 is just not good enough to get people to leave IOS or Android and they have no real customer base. RT is in the same boat, no existing customer base, no apps, and just not good enough for people to switch for. Throw in that the software has real problems and you have a disaster.
  
  --
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21. Re:VLC by devent · 2012-12-24 01:46 · Score: 2
  
  Wait. So the developer of VLC, that application that you so much use, have chosen to license the app and libraries under an open source license and have chosen to make VLC for free available to you.
  Now that Apple have chosen to make their app-store not GPL friendly, and Mircosoft have chosen to do the same, you say he, the developer, is an "asshole"?
  wow, just wow. I think if you look at the mirror you can see the real "asshole" here.
  Where is your contribution to VLC, where is your media library?
  
  --
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22. Re:VLC by Eirenarch · 2012-12-24 01:47 · Score: 2
  
  That's up to the people with $65K to decide. The effort of the devs is not wasted because they are paid to do it.
New Kickstarter Idea by binarylarry · 2012-12-23 11:24 · Score: 3, Interesting

How about we start a kickstarter to not port VLC to windows phone?

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1. Re:New Kickstarter Idea by Eirenarch · 2012-12-23 12:53 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Because of the freedom right? We should outbid the people who are willing to pay for the Win8/WP port and make them free by denying them free software.
2. Re:New Kickstarter Idea by kestasjk · 2012-12-23 15:51 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  If you don't like it don't use it. (But you will, of course, eventually. And once you've accepted the change you'll like it. As always.)
  
  --
  // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
3. Re:New Kickstarter Idea by Microlith · 2012-12-24 02:49 · Score: 2
  
  I can avoid using it for only so long, Microsoft is forcing the issue, ramming a walled-garden tablet UI down all of our throats. I don't think I'll get around to liking a crippled walled garden capable only of single full screen tasks
  But yes we will eventually be forced to use it. Whether we want to or not.
4. Re:New Kickstarter Idea by garyoa1 · 2012-12-24 03:21 · Score: 2
  
  Accept it? Sure. Like it? Not necessarily. I dunno how many programs over the years I've upgraded and found that I actually downgraded after it was too late.
  
  --
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Let Windows 8 Die by muncadunc · 2012-12-23 11:26 · Score: 3, Interesting

I would be much happier if nobody ported their software, and Windows 8 was allowed to completely fail.

Then Microsoft would be forced to fix the UI and bring back the start menu.
1. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by LordLimecat · 2012-12-23 11:49 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Windows 8 is my new main OS at home. Im figuring it out, and less unhappy than I was when I first got it. But it is the least discoverable UI I have ever used; Ubuntu was oodles easier to use.
2. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-23 12:54 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Interesting. The more I use it the more unhappy I am with it. At first I thought it was a little wierd (the whole 2 UI thing) but I figured I would get used to it. I have gotten used to it but like it less and less every day as I discover another annoying and arbitrary design decision. I put classic shell, so I can't complain about lack of a Start menu, I have that. The latest thing that really bugs me is that there are settings buried both in the desktop Control Panel, and also in the "Metro" Settings->Change PC Settings. You just have to know which ones are at which location.
  And for all the defenders out there, there is nothing I have not been able to figure out, even if it has required search or help. I've never had to resort to documentation (help or google) with a graphical UI. The lack of discoverability is going to piss off a lot of users. Even when they get used to it windows 8 will leave them with a bad taste in their mouth.
  My recommendation to Microsoft - unify the split personality. Allow users to choose "Metro Style" or "Desktop Style" and stay entirely within that UI. I see no technical reason that Desktop apps could not run in a Metro window or metro apps run in a desktop window.
3. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by LordLimecat · 2012-12-23 14:27 · Score: 2
  
  Ubuntu doesnt do the things I need it to do. For instance, if I want to do virtualization in Hyper-V, thats simply not an option, and HyperV remains a fairly large player in the VM market.
4. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by LordLimecat · 2012-12-23 14:30 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I would love if they did that. My decreasing unhappiness is partly due to the performance improvements, and as I discover things I really dont like (the control panel crap you mentioned), theres other things I really like-- the new task manager, the new taskbar multimon support, and the improvements to caching.
  
  as I discover another annoying and arbitrary design decision.
  "Arbitrary" pretty much defines every single problem that Windows 8 has, actually. One wonders what sort of usability study ended up with this UI as the top pick on desktop.
5. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by elashish14 · 2012-12-23 15:29 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It has nothing to do with usability. They're leveraging their monopoly on the desktop OEMs (again) to push their mobile platform. It's a business decision, not a user decision. If they wanted to make it usable, they're disable the tablet mode interface.
  
  --
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6. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by binarylarry · 2012-12-23 16:11 · Score: 2
  
  Ubuntu has both kvm/libvirt and VirtualBox available for it.
  Both are high quality, proven virtualization solutions.
  Hyper-V is a shitty slapped together solution Microsoft hurriedly arranged because they failed yet again to get into that market on time.
  
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7. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by hendridm · 2012-12-23 17:31 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Genuinely curious, as I am not an expert in these areas, but what is wrong with VirtualBox?
8. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by LordLimecat · 2012-12-23 22:30 · Score: 2
  
  HyperV 3 is by all rights considered to be a worthy contender to vSphere and Xen.
  Xen has its own pile of baggage to deal with, like a buggy interface.
9. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by LordLimecat · 2012-12-23 23:52 · Score: 2
  
  I fail to see how forcing a tablet UI on desktop users in a way that is clunky and hard to use somehow makes me want to use a MS tablet.
10. Re:Let Windows 8 Die by LordLimecat · 2012-12-23 23:55 · Score: 2
  
  HyperV was a terrible solution 5 years ago when it came out. It has since been through 3 iterations and is now a full fledged solution.
  That you would even place VirtualBox (which noone in their right mind would host production servers on) in the same league with HyperV is laughable. Virtualbox is proven to be unreliable; that an upgrade of it could wipe out VMs (which was a known issue from 3.20 ->3.30) kind of proves the point.
65K? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-23 11:28 · Score: 4, Interesting

Why, that's annual salary of an entry-to-mid level programmer. Seems like it would take a whole lot more. Sort of a strange target.
1. Re:65K? by __Paul__ · 2012-12-23 12:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Alternatively, it is the salary of a high-level programmer who is willing to take a pay-cut in order to avoid daily commuting, pair-programming, stand-up meetings, team-building weekends, unpaid overtime, Six Sigma, and all the other bullshit that comes with high-paying jobs in the corporate world.
  
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2. Re:65K? by Sir_Sri · 2012-12-23 12:26 · Score: 2
  
  We do student projects on this scale in 4 months with 5-6 kids. Doesn't seem like it's that big a deal.
  It's just changing the UI to use the metro language, and performance optimization for ARM on windows RT and anything that crops up along the way. It's not trivial, but it's not like they have to write an entire media player, with codec support etc. from scratch, or at least, hopefully don't.
How about fix VLC for ANY operating system! by Dan+East · 2012-12-23 12:11 · Score: 4, Interesting

I used to use VLC exclusively, but then it began to choke on newer codecs and more demanding resolutions. I upgraded and the latest build was far worse (no audio half the time, problems skipping, etc) so I had to revert back to an older version. I've switched to Media Player Classic (which I used to use over 5 years ago before VLC) and am very pleased because it "simply works". So IMO, MPC has leapfrogged VLC in their back and forth development surges. The fact that the latest releases of VLC were worse leads me to believe whatever developers are now active are not doing such a good job.
Until VLC can be made to halfway work on ANY platform, I'd be hesitant to try and push it out to Windows 8. There are fundamental problems with the low level decoding right now that need to be fixed first, before high level GUI / API / OS stuff is tweaked for a new OS.

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Actual VLC Kickstarter page by Trillian_1138 · 2012-12-23 12:26 · Score: 4, Informative

The article link in the OP has some interesting quotes, but to not include the actual Kickstarter project page (which still has 5 days to go) seems incredibly lazy...
It's not going to die by dbIII · 2012-12-23 13:06 · Score: 2

With lock in, new PC sales, and people saying "it can't be too bad, it's from MS" it was going to get out there on a pile of machines even if it had ended up a bigger pile of shit than Vista than whatever it really is. I still have to support two piece of shit Vista 32bit machines because some idiots sneaked them in from the side, and Win8 doesn't seem to be hated as much as Vista was before the first service pack.
VLC 64-bit's VERY good on Win 64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-23 13:35 · Score: 2, Interesting

I see the opposite on Win7 64-bit, actually Dan East! To wit:
I went to Media Player Classic 64-bit for about a year, prior to lately/now!
(Since I went to 64-bit Windows 7 circa 2009 when it released)
However, lately, on SOME video files? MediaPlayer Classic began to LAG...
Even using its 'optimized' output option.
So, it was time to try VLC 64-bit & since versions before the one I use now in 2.05 just recently released (2.02 - 2.04)? It hauls ass, & doesn't "lag frames" like I've seen Media Player Classic do since version before 1.6.5.6366 (which was the last one I used, also recently updated & re-released).
Coolest part is - the VLC 64-bit build's not even FINAL yet.
* Now, admittedly - I'm NO EXPERT on multimedia (@ least not anymore & NOT that I ever was really since the last work I did programmatically in multimedia filework was this in that regards -> http://www.google.com/search?q=%22APK%22+and+%22Cd-Rom%22+and+%22Alarm%22&btnG=Search&hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&gbv=1 way, Way, WAY back circa 1997-2004 iirc, & that was only for std. sound formats like wav, cd rom music tracks, mp3, etc.).
HOWEVER... it appears to ME @ least, thusfar, that the problem ISN'T possibly in their code, but how the codecs are being implemented that they're using... thoughts?
Now, iirc, also - VLC implements a lot of their OWN code to do the work of external codecs... is this true? Operating on "trivia memory" here.
Thanks!
APK
P.S.=> Lastly - I'll take correction here from folks that are more "expert" in multimedia & CODECS than I am (and, thanks actually on that note: I am all about learning more - it's part of the reason, if not THE biggest reason, I hit forums like this one - nobody "knows it all", this field's TOO big & changes TOO fast)
... apk
Re:Oh dear by fredgiblet · 2012-12-23 14:07 · Score: 2

Oh come on, VLC isn't THAT bad.
Wrong by cbhacking · 2012-12-23 15:52 · Score: 4, Informative

That is incorrect. Nice FUD, though.
1. Admin Powershell prompt (easily available even on Windows RT).
2. Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenceRegistration (yes, this is a PS command. Try "show-wi" + [TAB])
3. Enter Windows Live credentials. They don't have to be the ones you sign in with (in fact, you don't have to be using Windows Live signin at all), and the don't have to be associated with a developer account in any way. In fact, they can be for a throw-away account.
4. Download an APPX package and run its install script. Congrats, sideloading achieved.
The status of the "developer registration" will need to be periodically refreshed, as by default it expires after a month. However, it costs nothing except a trivial amount of time, and you can refresh it repeatedly.

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1. Re:Wrong by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-23 18:06 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  And people say Linux is complicated :P
2. Re:Wrong by penix1 · 2012-12-23 18:51 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Let's go back to the grandparent:
  
  Is that something easy for the average user?
  Now let's list those steps again:
  
  1. Admin Powershell prompt (easily available even on Windows RT).
  2. Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenceRegistration (yes, this is a PS command. Try "show-wi" + [TAB])
  3. Enter Windows Live credentials. They don't have to be the ones you sign in with (in fact, you don't have to be using Windows Live signin at all), and the don't have to be associated with a developer account in any way. In fact, they can be for a throw-away account.
  4. Download an APPX package and run its install script. Congrats, sideloading achieved.
  The status of the "developer registration" will need to be periodically refreshed, as by default it expires after a month. However, it costs nothing except a trivial amount of time, and you can refresh it repeatedly.
  Doesn't look to me like something the "average user" (read Joe Sixpack) can do to me.... Besides, I thought Microsoft hated the command line given their proclivity to denigrate its use in Linux.
  
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It's just a UI by DrYak · 2012-12-23 23:24 · Score: 2

Seems like it would take a whole lot more.
VLC is already modularized. Most of the functionality resides inside a library, and this library has already been ported to ARM CPUs too.
The only thing needed is "just" yet another UI. Next to the classic windows, Mac OS X Quartz, Linux GTK, Linux QT, textmode and a few other less known, they now need to add a metro interface.
It's basically just making new menu/button that work nicely on a metro tile, and connecting them to the already existing portable VLC engine.
That will actually require only a couple of week-ends worth of time.
The rest of the time budget will probably be spent getting everything working together nicely, and ironing out bugs (which *WILL* take a lot more time, specially given the complexity of VLC).

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