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Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC) for Windows Pushes What Could Be Its Last Update (mpc-hc.org)
Popular open-source media player for Windows, Media Player Classic Home Cinema -- or MPC-HC, has issued what it says could be the last update the app ever receives. The team writes: v1.7.13, the latest, and probably the last release of our project... For quite a few months now, or even years, the number of active developers has been decreasing and has inevitably reached zero. This, unfortunately, means that the project is officially dead and this release would be the last one. ... Unless some people step up that is. So, if someone's willing to really contribute and has C/C++ experience, let me know on IRC or via e-mail. Otherwise, all things come to an end and life goes on. It's been a nice journey and I'm personally pretty overwhelmed having to write this post.
Because that never happened with closed source...
With maybe the difference that in closed source, nobody can pick up the slack and continue if he feels the software is worth supporting. Closed source maker going under, software is dead in the water. Sucks to be you if you depended on it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm guessing VLC killed it? I used to use it all the time but now I just use VLC.
That's probably why "the number of active developers has been decreasing and has inevitably reached zero".
People who know C and C++ well are becoming rarer and rarer. The ones who are good are too busy making big bucks in industry, even if they're working on open source software like the Linux kernel (which is heavily corporate-developed these days).
If this project really wants to attract the next generation of developers to work on their project, they'll need to rewrite it in a fad language like Ruby, Go, or especially Rust.
I can't believe I'm typing this, but... There is literally no alternative. I have never found ANY other media player that supports what should be the most basic possible feature: BOOKMARKS! How is this possible? I have no idea, but VLC certainly does NOT support it. They have some sort of "fake" bookmarks which disappear once you close it, which makes them completely pointless.
Since MPC-HC is the only program that does the most basic imaginable feature, I will have to keep running it even if they kill it. On the other hand, even "MPC-HC" is a "resurrection" from the original "MPC"...
As opposed to what? Relying on Microsoft and Apple? Even if you're willing to pay, both companies have taken a general direction of not listening to their users.
#DeleteFacebook
I have to admit I've used MPC-HC for many many years now, in fact I'm using an old out of date version. I wonder if basically it's "good enough" that it doesn't need further development? There's products like "PuTTY" which essentially don't update for ages because the open source product fulfills it's function. Unless the product needs more fancy features which often risks breaking things. Time will tell I suppose.
The developer can decide to just end up not supporting it, with no option to pay for support. Open source is notorious for screwing over loyal users in this manner.
Because that never happened with closed source...
Yeah. I've been screwed over much worse with projects done using commercial software where my old project files are now unusable because the software either stopped being supported, or the vendor decided to "upgrade" in a way that was not back-compatable with old files.
With maybe the difference that in closed source, nobody can pick up the slack and continue if he feels the software is worth supporting. Closed source maker going under, software is dead in the water. Sucks to be you if you depended on it.
Yep.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Well, consider the time we're living in. It's more and more common that software gets altered in ways you do not like. A former for-license model getting changed to a subscription pay-by-month model, or some additional "enhancements" that make the software unusable or send your lifetime history to its maker to sell. And that's just what I come up with in the minute this took to write.
In commercial software, your choice is to grin and bear it. For reference, see Windows in its latest incarnations.
In OSS, you can at least remove the shitty bits that are detrimental to your interests. Or wait, you don't have to, because they don't get baked into the package because the maker of the software KNOWS you'd immediately remove that bullshit, so why bother waste resources on creating it?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Why keep working on something that works as intended?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
The people who created and updated this software deserve a huge "Thank You" from people who used it for years, including me. I mostly use VideoLAN now, but still have MPC on my computers, where it has lived happily since Day 1 (and will continue). It has always done exactly what it promised without gobbling a lot of resources and without trying to make itself the star of the show. The best thing about it is that the developers never fell into the "bloatware" trap.
So whatever happens, thank you Kacper Michajlow, XhmikosR, Goran Dzaferi and JellyFrog (still listed as "Active People"), and many now listed as inactive who contributed in the past.
People forget that when Media Player Classic came along, it was at a time when Microsoft seemed determined to force non-tech users to use Media Player, which was becoming more bloated, invasive and greedy with every update. MPC was a breath of fresh air.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
MPC-BE is still under active development, you can see some minor updates from 15 hours ago (new version of libpng)
https://sourceforge.net/p/mpcb...
The Doom9 support thread is still active
https://forum.doom9.org/showth...
V0lt is still active on the MPC-BE support forum (need google translate unless you can read Russian):
http://mpc-be.org/forum/index....
MPC-HC has been incredibly feature complete for a long time. I mean the list of fixes, changes, and features look impressive with each release but frankly I'm running a 3 year out of date version on my desktop and compared to my laptop running something very recent ... errr.... the buttons look a bit different...?
For the longest time it has truly excelled at it's core feature: The ability to play videos via a small footprint media player.
Oh behalf of the many users: Thanks for your hard efforts over the years, and thanks for not turning it into a steaming turd as much of the rest of the world seems to embrace change for changes sake. I see the abandoning of this project after its long stability in design and core purpose as part of its success story.
Is someone forcing you to use systemd? Is it part of your license agreement? A paid contract? A gun held to your head?
Free software is free-as-in-freedom. Runit, SysV init, Upstart, and GNU Shepherd all have their own virtues. Support one.
Good luck with that, considering more and more userspace applications have systemd as a hard dependency.
Got me a +4 insightful, why should I complain?
I see it more as a symbiotic relationship.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.