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Microsoft to stop bundling Media Player (pg. 6)
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| Your Mother |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
you can do that?
i recently bought a laptop, and i tried to find someone without windows (still PC), but i didnt find any :S so much for consumers able to chose something else... anyway, so if i want i can send the OEM cd to MS for refund? |
I've never done it personally, but many of my friends have. When you buy a computer, you are paying for the software it comes with too, so if you don't want that software, send it back to the company for a refund.
-Your Mother |
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| loconet |
Following today's spirit, check out this gem :toothless :
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Dear Microsoft Windows,
In retrospect, this letter should be of no surprise to you. For years now I have stood by you despite the terrible things people have said. We have always managed to work through our serious problems but too many things have been swept under the table. I do not think I can stand (idly) by you any longer.
What's that? No, another service pack will not help, not this time. I remember when we met, a warm April day, in 1992. For years I had been hearing about you, about your graphical user interface, innovations, and problems in the courtroom... I had seen you here and there, but it was not until that fateful day, April 6, that our relationship became serious. Though you had changed with the times, never like this. I was almost knocked off my feet when I first saw you. Right then I knew it, you had to be mine. Who else could offer me what you could? I wanted, no, I needed, your TrueType font support, your video playback capability, your color screen savers...
As time progressed so did my needs. Our affair took its next serious step on August 24, 1995. At the time I thought our happiness would never end. You brought me places I never thought possible. How could I refuse your Plug-and-Play cabability or your TCP/IP stack? I mean, you gave up your best friend, DOS, so our relationship could progress unhindered. It hurts me to look back at us, two starry-eyed lovers wanting nothing more than each other's company.
Then it almost all came tumbling down. June 25, 1998. What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? You changed, like in 1995, but not like I thought you would. Still clinging to your DOS kernel, like a small, lost child clutching its teddy bear. Where was the OS I had learned to love? You feebly proffered USB support, DVD playback, and a Quick Launch toolbar, but you were beginning to mix with a bad crowd. With that invasive Internet Explorer. I knew about what happened... You let him access your Explorer. I thought that was something special between us.
Though we had a bit of a falling out afterwards, my love was rekindled after February 17th, 2000. You were once again new- Professional- just like I thought you could one day be. I knew you were once again stable, not like back in 1998, and that you were the only OS for me. I remembered what had drawn me you you in the first place- ease of use, speed, your stunning looks, your compatibility. I remember saying, "I hope things never change because I love you the way you are."
I thought that what we had meant something- your transformation in 2000 seemed to cement that. I know now that I was wrong. By Sept 17 you tried to change for the Millennium. I saw right through you- trying to settle down and fit in better with the 'home-user'. Did you think I would love you more because of a few cosmetic changes? I was not impressed with the full-color icons, fancy skins, or your new media player. I thought what we had was deeper than that. Luckily you gave me a choicer, I did not have to choose the new you, the old version would be fine. I know you meant well but you just shouldn't have done that, especially with the '1998' episode so fresh in my mind.
By October 25, 2001 more changes had come. Everyone told be how great the new you would be. I got so tired of hearing about how up to date, easy to work with, and slick looking you had become. That was all I could take. You changed so much that I didn't even know you any more. I really dug some of your new features but the old you, the you from 2000, could have done all this. So why did you have to change at all? I didn't want to upgrade you or make you into something you were not.
Well, like I wrote, I have reached my limit. Its going to take more than an automatic update to fix our relationship. I just don't feel like I know you anymore. For example, do you know what I found on the computer a few days ago? Spyware! I wonder who let that in...
Windows, I know you will try to change, but I have been hurt too many times. You should know that I have been seeing someone else for a few months now. She is fun, easy going, and will do something for me that you never even considered, share her source code.
I don't know what else to say- we had a good run, but now its over. Pack up your Media Player, your browser, hell, take Minesweeper if you have to. I am sure see each other from time to time but I know one thing, I'll never again have to depend on you.
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source:
http://www.xyzcomputing.com/index.p...d=140&Itemid=26
(currently down) |
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| St_Andrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by rabbitjoker
No. MSN and WMP are free.
If you can DL it without cost it is free. As in such it is bundled for free. See? |
Oh its free, right, one problem though, you have to buy windows to get it! IE doesnt work on any other platform than windows, WMP neither, MSN have an old version for mac i think? etc. So its free to download, yes, you just have to buy windows to get it! |
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| St_Andrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by Your Mother
I've never done it personally, but many of my friends have. When you buy a computer, you are paying for the software it comes with too, so if you don't want that software, send it back to the company for a refund.
-Your Mother |
thats cool :D
i will check it out :D |
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| LoCa |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
you can do that?
i recently bought a laptop, and i tried to find someone without windows (still PC), but i didnt find any :S so much for consumers able to chose something else... anyway, so if i want i can send the OEM cd to MS for refund? |
Actually what you said reminded me of something. Concerning laptops: My brother bought himself a laptop last year (i believe it was a dell) which, of course, came with winXP pro. He kept having problems with it and i eventually suggested he use win 2k (i hate XP). Believe it or not it seems they had locked the system on XP. It was absolutely impossible for him to downgrade to 2k.
Now this is what he told me. He's not one of those common users who know all about computers and use whatever is given to them blindly. He knows how to format etc. I just had trouble understanding why M$ would want to stop users from downgrading to another version of windows. Seems a little strange to me :conf:
I hate to imagine what would have happened had he tried to install linux on there :D |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by Durafei
Do you know why those 3rd parties licensed their software to MS ? Becaues if they rejected that licensing, MS could easily create their own implementation(they've got the resources), or simply acquire that company(which they did on a number of occasions)
Is that a monopoly ?? You bet it is !
As far as 'greater good' goes. By 'greater good' I mean more satisfying experience for the user when he/she is using some kind of software. |
Holy Assumptions Batman! This was back in the very early 1990s and even 1980s when Microsoft was just a Mickey Mouse company! You seem to be confusing past and present here!
If that's how you define the "greater good", then it should be fairly straightforward that this has nothing to do with, and should have nothing to do with the LAW. The LAW in a constitutional state such as Canada is there to protect individual RIGHTS, not individual SATISFACTION, and the only RIGHT I see being violated here is Microsoft's right to put whatever the hell they want in their software bundles. |
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| LoCa |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
Oh its free, right, one problem though, you have to buy windows to get it! IE doesnt work on any other platform than windows, WMP neither, MSN have an old version for mac i think? etc. So its free to download, yes, you just have to buy windows to get it! |
Good points there :D |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by Your Mother
You people talk about marketing, but do you have any idea how big of a computer company you need to be or the type of funding you need to have to actively market a product? |
A LOT! That is why, when you're an individual or SMALL company trying to market a new product, you have two choices:
1. Find one of the NUMEROUS sources of cash which I mentioned in an earlier post, or;
2. Sell it to a larger company, like Microsoft! Maybe if you wanna be REALLY sneaky, sell a crappy version of the product and use the profits to market a GOOD version!
Otherwise, they need to face the reality here, which is that it takes money to make money!
What nobody here seems to realize is that a lot of people and a lot of companies have actually made money from Microsoft! If Microsoft wants to buy someone out, they still have a choice whether or not to accept that offer! Who are we blaming here!?
| quote: | Originally posted by Your Mother
But then they would be in violation of the law by using their power of monopoly in one industry to thwart competition in another. 2 real options exists:
1) Force the user to download the product from a list
2) Bundle both products with the OS
-Your Mother |
I love it. People are using the word "monopoly" like "terrorism" - i.e. to mean whatever the hell they want it to mean while still giving their arguments some sort of moral weight.
Microsoft isn't a MONOPOLY in the OS industry. We have the Mac OS, BeOS, Solaris, Sun OS, UNIX, Minix, Redhat Linux, Slackware Linux, Debian Linux, a hundred other kinds of Linux, VMS/OpenVMS, PROS, THEOS, AIX, Irix, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, EROS, GNU Hurd, DR-DOS, Netware, SkyOS... for a more complete list see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operating_systems.
Oh and of course I suppose Windows CE is a monopoly in the embedded systems market too, right? Let's forget about D-Bug, Buffalo, VxWorks, RTOS, Palm OS, Symbian, ucLinux...
Basically you're defining "monopoly" as "a whole lot of people use it" and saying that's an excuse to restrict how they can compete with other, smaller companies. But isn't this how business works? I know at the company I work for, our core marketing base is customers who previously bought products or services from us! Microsoft is taking that a step further, offering upgraded versions of the product, inflating the price and adding their own new products. Maybe it's not nice, but IT'S NOT ILLEGAL! |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by loconet
Speaking of better alternatives, here is a faster, lighter player - Media Player Classic:
http://sourceforge.net/project/show...ackage_id=84358
Not only does it play the usual avi,mpg,avi , it also plays .ram and .mov so gets rid of the annoying real player , quicktime need (At least for local files) |
ooooh me download now .. thanks for enlightening me .. :D
does it support all the other DivX , Xvid codecs too ?
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| DigiNut |
What it all comes down to is punishing success. No matter how much you hate Microsoft (and trust me, I DO NOT LIKE MICROSOFT), it is not only immoral but economically disastrous to punish success.
I'm seeing a lot of anti-corporate and anti-capitalist attitude here. The question is not whether or not it's NICE for Microsoft to stifle the competition - the question is whether or not it's ILLEGAL. I have yet to see any argument which holds any water that can legitimately define Microsoft's current activities as illegal (any arguments which may appear to hold water are usually blatantly unconstitutional).
Time and time again, we've been hit like a ton of bricks with proof that the government protects no one's interests by "protecting the public interest." When will people learn!? |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
A LOT! That is why, when you're an individual or SMALL company trying to market a new product, you have two choices:
1. Find one of the NUMEROUS sources of cash which I mentioned in an earlier post, or;
2. Sell it to a larger company, like Microsoft! Maybe if you wanna be REALLY sneaky, sell a crappy version of the product and use the profits to market a GOOD version!
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wow.. just like that huh ?
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| St_Andrew |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
I'm seeing a lot of anti-corporate and anti-capitalist attitude here. The question is not whether or not it's NICE for Microsoft to stifle the competition - the question is whether or not it's ILLEGAL. I have yet to see any argument which holds any water that can legitimately define Microsoft's current activities as illegal (any arguments which may appear to hold water are usually blatantly unconstitutional). |
EU's anti trust laws actually says that firms in a dominant position may not abuse that position. And it has a lot of definitions of what that is (i find MS quilty for loads of them), if interested read Article 82 of the EC Treaty.
So it actually is ILLEGAL. |
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