I agree, RealPlayer has done a great job with their Mac player. It's small, doesn't hog system resources and an easy install. Everything that WMP should have been.
Isn't it odd when RealPlayer comes off as more professional than Microsoft... Well, maybe not that weird.
Nope, the old version doesn't work once you've installed the new one! Don't bother upgrading is my suggestion. I've scoured the Microsoft site looking for an old install and can't find one. Of course WMP9 incorporates itself so much into the system I'd be worried if I installed the old version if it'd ruin things.
Well, maybe I'll give it a try, anyone got a link to the old version? I have a feeling though hate I'll hate myself in the morning.
I've already downloaded and installed this and it is without a doubt one of the worse releases of a piece of software I've seen. In the past my copy of Media Player would at least run some of the videos that QuickTime wouldn't, now nothing. I've tried running every WMV file I could get my hands on and none of them play. It seems that Microsoft has chosen to go with less functionality, not more.
It's an interesting move for Microsoft, especially after the release of iTunes for Windows. Apple is doing it's best to convert Microsoft users by offering them incredible software. Microsoft is offering Mac users shitty knockoffs of Windows software.
I'm guessing this is a gambit to make Mac users realize they can't have the cross-platform operability that OSX seemed to bring about, that if they want to use Windows files they should run Windows. Ultimately I think the frustration that people will feel towards the new Media Player will cause even more resentment towards Microsoft. Apple's attitude that you lure more flies with Aqua than you do with water is definately the winning strategy.
If you don't already know (and chances are if you're reading Slashdot you do), you should be using VLC. It does everything this crappy Windows port does and more.
They should just buy out Palm and get into the market that way.
How terrible would that be. My iPod is much more stable than my Palm was. What I appreciate about my iPod (and I do use the Contacts feature a lot) is the simplicity of it all. It doesn't pretend to be a PDA. It does one thing and it does it damn well, and it doesn't crash everytime you use it.
I'm sure that it really wasn't my Palm that was that unstable but rather some of the programs that I was using for it, but I do love that there's nothing that I can put on my iPod that's going to make it crash everytime I listen to Scribe's new album.
Does anyone else find it frightfully disturbing that 16% of CIO believed the SCO's claims to hold enough water that they've changed their implementation strategies?
I understand why a company that wasn't already using Linux would see this as a reason not to swap. But to be using or implementing Linux and to change your mind against it because of this seems like a rather signifigant change in attitude.
Third I hope the don't start writing the programs in Chinese in the hope of avoiding the best virus and worm writers - who I doubt would go thru the trouble of learning Chinese to be able to penetrate this new system...
Why does it matter to you what language they write their programs in (although from what I know most Chinese programmers write their programs in the same programming languages we do). Chinese does not seem suited for prorgramming in, and most Chinese programs do speak English.
Fifth One Great Wall of China is more than enough. We don't want a "Great Wall of China, Japn, and Korea," and no matter what they say, it is NOT going to be the Eighth Wonder of the World...
What is this? They want to make their own operating system, that's all. It's not the beginning of these countires shutting themselves off from world trade. I personally doubt the usefulness of such an initiative, believing the best OSs come from programmers, not governments. But could you imagine the value of an operating system designed for Asian languages? Imagine if you were using an operating system that had been translated from Russian. It might be workable, even decent, but it would never be quite perfect for you. The same applies for these languages, although even more so with Chinese character sets.
I understand Korea's desire to be involved but it makes less sense to me because their language is completely different from the other two. Perhaps they're hoping to make it a compatible with all Asian languages? Cool.
These people are notorious for stealing ideas, and in most cases, modifying them into something better then claiming them as their own.
Your post has so many levels of ignorance to it that it hurts my brain. Do you let 20 year old stereotypes determine your opinion of everything you read? Japan has long been an industry leader in software and hardware development. China also (despite fearmongering anti-Communist views still held by many Americans) is moving towards being one of the largest technology markets in the world.
But let me guess, when an American takes a Japanese product and makes it better it's innovating. When someone in Japan takes an American product and makes it beter it's stealing thanks for clearing that up.
By the way, using a phrase like "These people" is in bad taste for the beginning, maybe have someone read over your posts in the future to make sure they're not flaimbait.
If you think about it, the price of a music CD has come down. When CDs first started appearing on the market they were about 15-20 dollars. Today, in 2003, they are about 15-20 dollars.
But over the course of the 20 or so years that music CDs have been main stream there has been inflation. Your 20 dollars that bought you one CD when they were first coming out will nearly buy you 2 CDs today.
Source:
http://www.aier.org/cgi-bin/colcalculator.cgi
I'm not saying the RIAA cartel aren't artificially inflating prices, I'm sure that they are, but to say that CD prices haven't come down at all is a bit spurious. Cars cost more tody than they did 20 years ago (on the whole) but no one is accusing the car industry of artificially inflating prices. Not all consumer goods are going to have the same pricing timeline as computer products.
Also, consider all the other factors in music CD creation (beyond the price of the chemical ingredients). Audio engineers and musicians probably deserve to make a living wage. I'm sure they don't like the amount that industry execs slice off the top of the product but at least those same execs offer them consistant work and wages.
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"Still no cure for Cancer."
I agree, RealPlayer has done a great job with their Mac player. It's small, doesn't hog system resources and an easy install. Everything that WMP should have been.
Isn't it odd when RealPlayer comes off as more professional than Microsoft... Well, maybe not that weird.
Nope, the old version doesn't work once you've installed the new one! Don't bother upgrading is my suggestion. I've scoured the Microsoft site looking for an old install and can't find one. Of course WMP9 incorporates itself so much into the system I'd be worried if I installed the old version if it'd ruin things.
Well, maybe I'll give it a try, anyone got a link to the old version? I have a feeling though hate I'll hate myself in the morning.
I've already downloaded and installed this and it is without a doubt one of the worse releases of a piece of software I've seen. In the past my copy of Media Player would at least run some of the videos that QuickTime wouldn't, now nothing. I've tried running every WMV file I could get my hands on and none of them play. It seems that Microsoft has chosen to go with less functionality, not more.
It's an interesting move for Microsoft, especially after the release of iTunes for Windows. Apple is doing it's best to convert Microsoft users by offering them incredible software. Microsoft is offering Mac users shitty knockoffs of Windows software.
I'm guessing this is a gambit to make Mac users realize they can't have the cross-platform operability that OSX seemed to bring about, that if they want to use Windows files they should run Windows. Ultimately I think the frustration that people will feel towards the new Media Player will cause even more resentment towards Microsoft. Apple's attitude that you lure more flies with Aqua than you do with water is definately the winning strategy.
If you don't already know (and chances are if you're reading Slashdot you do), you should be using VLC. It does everything this crappy Windows port does and more.
They should just buy out Palm and get into the market that way.
How terrible would that be. My iPod is much more stable than my Palm was. What I appreciate about my iPod (and I do use the Contacts feature a lot) is the simplicity of it all. It doesn't pretend to be a PDA. It does one thing and it does it damn well, and it doesn't crash everytime you use it.
I'm sure that it really wasn't my Palm that was that unstable but rather some of the programs that I was using for it, but I do love that there's nothing that I can put on my iPod that's going to make it crash everytime I listen to Scribe's new album.
Does anyone else find it frightfully disturbing that 16% of CIO believed the SCO's claims to hold enough water that they've changed their implementation strategies? I understand why a company that wasn't already using Linux would see this as a reason not to swap. But to be using or implementing Linux and to change your mind against it because of this seems like a rather signifigant change in attitude.
"A wonderful play you'll never take a date to!"
Third I hope the don't start writing the programs in Chinese in the hope of avoiding the best virus and worm writers - who I doubt would go thru the trouble of learning Chinese to be able to penetrate this new system ...
...
Why does it matter to you what language they write their programs in (although from what I know most Chinese programmers write their programs in the same programming languages we do). Chinese does not seem suited for prorgramming in, and most Chinese programs do speak English.
Fifth One Great Wall of China is more than enough. We don't want a "Great Wall of China, Japn, and Korea," and no matter what they say, it is NOT going to be the Eighth Wonder of the World
What is this? They want to make their own operating system, that's all. It's not the beginning of these countires shutting themselves off from world trade. I personally doubt the usefulness of such an initiative, believing the best OSs come from programmers, not governments. But could you imagine the value of an operating system designed for Asian languages? Imagine if you were using an operating system that had been translated from Russian. It might be workable, even decent, but it would never be quite perfect for you. The same applies for these languages, although even more so with Chinese character sets.
I understand Korea's desire to be involved but it makes less sense to me because their language is completely different from the other two. Perhaps they're hoping to make it a compatible with all Asian languages? Cool.
These people are notorious for stealing ideas, and in most cases, modifying them into something better then claiming them as their own.
Your post has so many levels of ignorance to it that it hurts my brain. Do you let 20 year old stereotypes determine your opinion of everything you read? Japan has long been an industry leader in software and hardware development. China also (despite fearmongering anti-Communist views still held by many Americans) is moving towards being one of the largest technology markets in the world.
But let me guess, when an American takes a Japanese product and makes it better it's innovating. When someone in Japan takes an American product and makes it beter it's stealing thanks for clearing that up.
By the way, using a phrase like "These people" is in bad taste for the beginning, maybe have someone read over your posts in the future to make sure they're not flaimbait.
If you think about it, the price of a music CD has come down. When CDs first started appearing on the market they were about 15-20 dollars. Today, in 2003, they are about 15-20 dollars. But over the course of the 20 or so years that music CDs have been main stream there has been inflation. Your 20 dollars that bought you one CD when they were first coming out will nearly buy you 2 CDs today. Source: http://www.aier.org/cgi-bin/colcalculator.cgi I'm not saying the RIAA cartel aren't artificially inflating prices, I'm sure that they are, but to say that CD prices haven't come down at all is a bit spurious. Cars cost more tody than they did 20 years ago (on the whole) but no one is accusing the car industry of artificially inflating prices. Not all consumer goods are going to have the same pricing timeline as computer products. Also, consider all the other factors in music CD creation (beyond the price of the chemical ingredients). Audio engineers and musicians probably deserve to make a living wage. I'm sure they don't like the amount that industry execs slice off the top of the product but at least those same execs offer them consistant work and wages.