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Windows 10 Update Removes Windows Media Player (betanews.com)
Recently made available Windows 10 update KB4046355 for the Fall Creators Update disables Windows Media Player from the operating system. BetaNews reports: While it could be argued that Windows Media Player is no longer an essential addition to Windows -- there are plenty of quality third-party alternatives, such as VLC Media Player, not to mention the Films & TV app in Windows 10 itself -- many users still rely on it. The feature's removal came to light when users installed KB4046355 on devices running Windows 10 version 1709 -- the Fall Creators Update. This update, referred to as FeatureOnDemandMediaPlayer, removes Windows Media Player from the OS, although it doesn't kill access to it entirely. If you want the media player back you can install it via the Add a Feature setting. Open Settings, go to Apps > Apps & Features, and click on Manage optional features.
...While it could be argued that Windows Media Player is no longer an essential addition to Windows...
It could also be argued that the Windows 10 data harvesting is not an essential addition to Windows. Yet there it remains....
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Makes one wonder what the real reason is for removing Media Player.
It's a shell linking audio/video codecs (which still exist) to a simple set of video controls, perhaps with some mostly useless cruft, but it did a decent job.
It definitely wasn't anywhere near the best player - but when you went to a random PC, you could be sure that most common videos would play.
Why would you remove that as a minimal component on PCs? Browsers are OK - but when you're going for a presentation on a random PC, there's all kinds of ways those can crap out in ways that a simple default video player would be fine.
Seems a very dumb thing to remove, if you want PCs to be useful general devices world-wide.
And note - probably less than 2% of your user base is going to go onto the 'Windows Store' to try and get ANYTHING to fix this shortcoming. Attempting to profit from your own manufactured problem is not going to pay off in this case, compared to what it's costing you in terms of basic capability.
Ryan Fenton
It's not. WMP has long out lived its usefulness. I honestly thought it was already gone. Imagine my surprise when it opened up the other day on some obscure video format that I had long forgotten about.
VLC does a whole lot better job.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
These feature removals mostly seem troublesome at a locked down PC environment at school or work where you can't install anything. So while not disastrous, it is certainly annoying when you can't do some trivial thing on a computer without admin rights on it.
There's nothing wrong with Windows 8, as long as you install ClassicShell and disable all the Metro crap.
Have you really had issues with systemd or even pulseaudio or network manager?
I installed debian on my samsung laptop and it worked without mesing with any files. I have never had it fail to boot. I have it on my raspberry pi as well running homeassistant also on debian.
I haven't had windows 10 fail to boot either, just saying I hear the systemd complaint allot but I really don't think it's an issue for most home users. Maybe it messes on the enterprise level, but your post is clearly talking about home users.
There's nothing wrong with Windows 8, as long as you turn it into Windows 7.
sig: sauer
Unfortunately, that's not the choice. The choice is "an OS that runs the software I have to use" and "an OS that doesn't run the software I have to use."
You missed the biggest contender for Linux desktop worthiness. Linux Mint. Which runs out of the box on just about any hardware I've thrown at it. It's reasonably friendly and reasonably easy to use. I highly recommend trying it. You can even get it on a Live bootable USB so you don't even need to put it on your hard drive to play with it.