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VLC For Windows 8 Reaches $65,000 Funding Goal On Kickstarter
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."
This is for the Metro version which will work on RT, Windows phone and Windows x86
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?
... 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.
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.
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.
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.
Better known as 318230.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
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.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...