Very Computer

by **Chris Ahlstro** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 04:57:49

> Why do I have the feeling that only Media Player 8 and later versions
> will eventually be able to play content-protected media?

> <http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5712920.html>

> Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP
> By Joe Wilcox
> Staff Writer, CNET News.com
> April 24, 2001, 1:40 p.m. PT

> "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
> of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
> system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
> decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

> <snip>

> "'There are some features with Windows Media Player that can only be
> delivered with Windows XP,' said Jonathan Usher, Microsoft's group
> product manager for Windows Media Player. These include CD burning and
> DVD movie playback, among other features not available with earlier
> versions of the product."

I'm glad I'm using Linux, and don't have to worry about this
kind of shit.

Chris

--
"None but a blockhead ever wrote code,
except for money."

Bill Gates

by **clcobr** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 06:02:25

> > Why do I have the feeling that only Media Player 8 and later versions
> > will eventually be able to play content-protected media?

> > <http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5712920.html>

> > Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP
> > By Joe Wilcox
> > Staff Writer, CNET News.com
> > April 24, 2001, 1:40 p.m. PT

> > "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
> > of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
> > system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
> > decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

> > <snip>

> > "'There are some features with Windows Media Player that can only be
> > delivered with Windows XP,' said Jonathan Usher, Microsoft's group
> > product manager for Windows Media Player. These include CD burning and
> > DVD movie playback, among other features not available with earlier
> > versions of the product."

> I'm glad I'm using Linux, and don't have to worry about this
> kind of shit.

> Chris

what a joke!
those guys are runing bananas!
BE,Linux,Os/2,or MAC you decide.

by **Chad Evere** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 06:42:18

>> Why do I have the feeling that only Media Player 8 and later versions
>> will eventually be able to play content-protected media?

>> <http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5712920.html>

>> Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP
>> By Joe Wilcox
>> Staff Writer, CNET News.com
>> April 24, 2001, 1:40 p.m. PT

>> "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
>> of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
>> system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
>> decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

>> <snip>

>> "'There are some features with Windows Media Player that can only be
>> delivered with Windows XP,' said Jonathan Usher, Microsoft's group
>> product manager for Windows Media Player. These include CD burning and
>> DVD movie playback, among other features not available with earlier
>> versions of the product."

>I'm glad I'm using Linux, and don't have to worry about this
>kind of shit.

>Chris

Except, of course, if there are radio stations or other broadcast
entities that only push out Windows Media Player format. Microsoft
is really trying to corner this market. They wanted to do this
with Java and other Internet protocols too, but they seem to be
having more success with Windows Media Player. I don't know why
there isn't more outrage about this.

by **Sean** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 08:48:28

Why would anyone be surprised that Microsoft was trying to
<gasp> leverage its monopoly to damage competitors? How
long does it take to forget:

- Stac Electronics (MS lost in court)
- Digital Research/Caldera (MS paid Caldera $150M++)
- Intel (Intel caved in and stopped "competing")
- Netscape (see DOJ action)

This is a long-standing pattern of behavior, and Real
Networks et al. are only the latest in a growing line.

Their other tactic is simply to buy the company if they
think a) they couldn't write it themselves and/or
b) they can get more leverage:

Q-DOS (became MS-DOS, and cost $3M or so later on)
Lattice (for their C compiler)
Multiplan (became Excel)
Sybase (became SQL Server)
Powerpoint
Fox (became FoxPro)
Avalanche (SGML tools)
Visio

Intuit got away because of <gasp> anti-trust concerns.

Sean
====

> "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
> of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
> system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
> decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

> <snip>

> "'There are some features with Windows Media Player that can only be
> delivered with Windows XP,' said Jonathan Usher, Microsoft's group
> product manager for Windows Media Player. These include CD burning and
> DVD movie playback, among other features not available with earlier
> versions of the product."

by **Erik Funkenbusc** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 14:07:08

> Why would anyone be surprised that Microsoft was trying to
> <gasp> leverage its monopoly to damage competitors? How
> long does it take to forget:

> - Stac Electronics (MS lost in court)

Actually, MS both lost and won in this case. Stac lost a countersuit by MS
for reverse engineering DOS, while MS lost Stac's patent infringement case
(note that a patent infringement is not a copyright infringement. It is
perfectly plausable to violate a patent with completely original ideas and
code).

Quote:> - Digital Research/Caldera (MS paid Caldera $150M++)

To end a many year old lawsuit that was dragging through the woods.
Settling doesn't admit guilt, only that it is cheaper.

Quote:> - Intel (Intel caved in and stopped "competing")

There is only one executives word on that. Intel itself says it never
happened.

Quote:> - Netscape (see DOJ action)

Oh yeah.. the company that started with nothing and less than 4 years later
was sold for 12 *BILLION* dollars. Yeah, they really lost a lot.

Quote:> Q-DOS (became MS-DOS, and cost $3M or so later on)

So?

Quote:> Lattice (for their C compiler)

So?

Quote:> Multiplan (became Excel)

So?

Quote:> Sybase (became SQL Server)

MS and Sybase worked together on that quite a bit. MS also developed
Sybases PC versions.

Quote:> Powerpoint

I'm not so sure about that.

Quote:> Fox (became FoxPro)

It was FoxPro before they bought it.

Quote:> Avalanche (SGML tools)

MS doesn't have SGML tools.

Quote:> Visio

So?

Quote:> Intuit got away because of <gasp> anti-trust concerns.

And Intuit is still winning.

by **Todd** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 14:47:54

> > Why do I have the feeling that only Media Player 8 and later versions
> > will eventually be able to play content-protected media?

> > <http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5712920.html>

> > Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP
> > By Joe Wilcox
> > Staff Writer, CNET News.com
> > April 24, 2001, 1:40 p.m. PT

> > "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
> > of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
> > system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
> > decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

> > <snip>

> > "'There are some features with Windows Media Player that can only be
> > delivered with Windows XP,' said Jonathan Usher, Microsoft's group
> > product manager for Windows Media Player. These include CD burning and
> > DVD movie playback, among other features not available with earlier
> > versions of the product."

> I'm glad I'm using Linux, and don't have to worry about this
> kind of shit.

Well, see, with Windows XP, you have a choice. You can use the free Media
Player, or you can use one of a bazillion different other media players out
there... some of them quite good.

You can choose whether or not to use XP or the media player. Just like you
chose to use Linux. So where is the problem?

Of course, all of the good media applications are for Windows, but hey, if
you are fanatic about Linux, using substandard apps. is the norm.

-Todd

- Show quoted text -

Quote:
> Chris

> --
> "None but a blockhead ever wrote code,
> except for money."

> Bill Gates

by **Ayende Rahie** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 17:41:23

> > > Why do I have the feeling that only Media Player 8 and later versions
> > > will eventually be able to play content-protected media?

> > > <http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5712920.html>

> > > Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP
> > > By Joe Wilcox
> > > Staff Writer, CNET News.com
> > > April 24, 2001, 1:40 p.m. PT

> > > "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
> > > of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
> > > system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
> > > decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

> > > <snip>

> > > "'There are some features with Windows Media Player that can only be
> > > delivered with Windows XP,' said Jonathan Usher, Microsoft's group
> > > product manager for Windows Media Player. These include CD burning and
> > > DVD movie playback, among other features not available with earlier
> > > versions of the product."

> > I'm glad I'm using Linux, and don't have to worry about this
> > kind of shit.

> Well, see, with Windows XP, you have a choice. You can use the free Media
> Player, or you can use one of a bazillion different other media players
out
> there... some of them quite good.

> You can choose whether or not to use XP or the media player. Just like
you
> chose to use Linux. So where is the problem?

> Of course, all of the good media applications are for Windows, but hey, if
> you are fanatic about Linux, using substandard apps. is the norm.

As a note WMP is a big, bloated, monsterous beast.
I've a PII-500 + 448MB, and it is *not responsive* when playing, especially
if the play list is long, >50 songs.
You can't stop/pause/resume in the middle of the song, often the only
solution is to close or terminate WMP if you want it.
Compare that to WinAmp (I'm using the lite version) which can handle
anything that I've thrown at it, at half the memory requirement, at about
25% of the CPU time, and actually responsive when playing.
WMP sole advantage is that it's capable of playing so many file types, and
even so, I've an AVI movie that I can't view with it.

by **Chris Ahlstro** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 20:28:48

> > > "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
> > > of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
> > > system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
> > > decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

> > I'm glad I'm using Linux, and don't have to worry about this
> > kind of shit.

> Well, see, with Windows XP, you have a choice. You can use the free Media
> Player, or you can use one of a bazillion different other media players out
> there... some of them quite good.

> You can choose whether or not to use XP or the media player. Just like you
> chose to use Linux. So where is the problem?

Read that first paragraph again.

Quote:> Of course, all of the good media applications are for Windows

Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England.

Quote:> but hey, if
> you are fanatic about Linux, using substandard apps. is the norm.

You obviously don't use networking tools very much, if you think
Linux has substandard apps. Also, I'd like you to tell me how
many hardware platforms Windows supports, and just how often
a Windows CD-writer will coaster a CD.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the high-quality of Windows 2000
products for editing large documents.

Chris

--
"None but a blockhead ever wrote code,
except for money."

Bill Gates

by **Aaron R. Kulki** » Sat, 28 Apr 2001 21:26:52

> > > Why do I have the feeling that only Media Player 8 and later versions
> > > will eventually be able to play content-protected media?

> > > <http://www.veryComputer.com/;

> > > Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP
> > > By Joe Wilcox
> > > Staff Writer, CNET News.com
> > > April 24, 2001, 1:40 p.m. PT

> > > "Microsoft is requiring consumers who want to use the latest version
> > > of Windows Media Player to upgrade to the new Windows XP operating
> > > system--a move that is reminiscent of the company's controversial
> > > decision to tie the Internet Explorer browser with Windows."

> > > <snip>

> > > "'There are some features with Windows Media Player that can only be
> > > delivered with Windows XP,' said Jonathan Usher, Microsoft's group
> > > product manager for Windows Media Player. These include CD burning and
> > > DVD movie playback, among other features not available with earlier
> > > versions of the product."

> > I'm glad I'm using Linux, and don't have to worry about this
> > kind of shit.

> Well, see, with Windows XP, you have a choice. You can use the free Media
> Player, or you can use one of a bazillion different other media players out
> there... some of them quite good.

> You can choose whether or not to use XP or the media player. Just like you
> chose to use Linux. So where is the problem?

> Of course, all of the good media applications are for Windows, but hey, if

^^^ ^^^
some ported to

Quote:> you are fanatic about Linux, using substandard apps. is the norm.

Most of the high-end media applications are written EXCLUSIVELY for UNIX.

Since the code ports directly to LINUX, it works on Linux with nothing
more than an ftp, followed by

tar xvf tarball.tar
cd some/dir/src
make install
make clean

Hope that helps

Quote:
> -Todd

> > Chris

> > --
> > "None but a blockhead ever wrote code,
> > except for money."

> > Bill Gates

--
Aaron R. Kulkis
Unix Systems Engineer
DNRC Minister of all I survey
ICQ # 3056642

L: This seems to have reduced my spam. Maybe if everyone does it we

K: Truth in advertising:
Left Wing Extremists Charles Schumer and Donna Shalala,
Black Seperatist Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan,
Special Interest Sierra Club,
Anarchist Members of the ACLU
Left Wing Corporate Extremist Ted Turner
The Drunken Woman Killer Ted Kennedy
Grass Roots Pro-Gun movement,

J: Other knee_jerk reactionaries: billh, david casey, redc1c4,
The retarded sisters: Raunchy (rauni) and Anencephielle (Enielle),
also known as old hags who've hit the wall....

I: Loren Petrich's 2-week stubborn refusal to respond to the
challenge to describe even one philosophical difference
between himself and the communists demonstrates that, in fact,
Loren Petrich is a COMMUNIST ***hole

H: "Having found not one single carbon monoxide leak on the entire
premises, it is my belief, and Willard concurs, that the reason
you folks feel listless and disoriented is simply because
you are lazy, stupid people"

G: Knackos...you're a retard.

F: Unit_4's "Kook hunt" reminds me of "Jimmy Baker's" harangues against
*ery while concurrently committing *ery with Tammy Hahn.

E: Jet is not worthy of the time to compose a response until
her behavior improves.

D: Jet Silverman now follows me from newgroup to newsgroup
...despite (C) above.

C: Jet Silverman claims to have killfiled me.

B: Jet Silverman plays the fool and spews out nonsense as a
method of sidetracking discussions which are headed in a
direction that she doesn't like.

A: The wise man is mocked by fools.

by **T. Max Devli** » Mon, 30 Apr 2001 03:08:51

Said Todd in alt.destroy.microsoft on Fri, 27 Apr 2001 13:47:54 +0800;
[...]

Quote:>Well, see, with Windows XP, you have a choice. You can use the free Media
>Player, or you can use one of a bazillion different other media players out
>there... some of them quite good.

>You can choose whether or not to use XP or the media player. Just like you
>chose to use Linux. So where is the problem?

>Of course, all of the good media applications are for Windows, but hey, if
>you are fanatic about Linux, using substandard apps. is the norm.

Guffaw.

--
T. Max Devlin
*** The best way to convince another is
to state your case moderately and
accurately. - Benjamin Franklin ***

by **Donn Mille** » Mon, 30 Apr 2001 03:56:34

> Except, of course, if there are radio stations or other broadcast
> entities that only push out Windows Media Player format. Microsoft
> is really trying to corner this market. They wanted to do this
> with Java and other Internet protocols too, but they seem to be
> having more success with Windows Media Player. I don't know why
> there isn't more outrage about this.

It's because of who those entities are being managed by. They are
mostly marketing people who have one or two "introduction to Windows"
courses, so they are just falling back to whatever limited computer
knowledge they have. They never look at the big picture at what impact
their decisions may ultimately have. Plus, there's the advertising
aspect of the whole thing. MS probably markets things like
content-controlled Media Player pretty aggressively. It's how MS got to
where they are today - aggressive marketing and strategically
controlling the software market.

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
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by **T. Max Devli** » Mon, 30 Apr 2001 07:14:19

Said Erik Funkenbusch in alt.destroy.microsoft on Fri, 27 Apr 2001
00:07:08 -0500;

>> Why would anyone be surprised that Microsoft was trying to
>> <gasp> leverage its monopoly to damage competitors? How
>> long does it take to forget:

>> - Stac Electronics (MS lost in court)

>Actually, MS both lost and won in this case. [...]

Quibbling from sock puppets aside, this is true of almost every legal
decision, which generally include multiple charges of liability or
criminal violations.

Quote:>> - Digital Research/Caldera (MS paid Caldera $150M++)

>To end a many year old lawsuit that was dragging through the woods.
>Settling doesn't admit guilt, only that it is cheaper.

Quibbling from sock puppets, aside, if it is cheaper, it is because you
expect to lose. MS has made this "old lawsuit; we're just going to be
nice and pretend we did something wrong because its cheaper" bullshit
into a real art form.

In truth, they were going to be gutted and turned on a spit, if they let
the investigation into Microsoft's anti-competitive actions in regards
to DR-DOS any further. Most people in the industry (quibbling by sock
puppets aside) think Caldera should have refused to settle. Obviously,
though, it comes down to the am*activity of Caldera's stock-holders,
which you would like to pretend provides cover for Microsoft's
immorality (criminal behavior).

Quote:>> - Intel (Intel caved in and stopped "competing")

>There is only one executives word on that. Intel itself says it never
>happened.

The evidence proves it did, however, regardless of the singular
testimony in the record (pretending it is "only one executives word" is
quibbling by a sock puppet) or what a corporation claims happened in the
pseudo-world of press releases.

Quote:>> - Netscape (see DOJ action)

>Oh yeah.. the company that started with nothing and less than 4 years later
>was sold for 12 *BILLION* dollars. Yeah, they really lost a lot.

Microsoft had a similar history, and wasn't sold. Doh!

Quote:>> Q-DOS (became MS-DOS, and cost $3M or so later on)

>So?

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

Quote:>> Lattice (for their C compiler)

>So?

>> Multiplan (became Excel)

>So?

He didn't seem to be aware that Microsoft bought Word, originally, as
well.

Quote:>> Sybase (became SQL Server)

>MS and Sybase worked together on that quite a bit. MS also developed
>Sybases PC versions.

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha. I love how Microsoft "works together" with other
companies. Guffaw.

Quote:>> Powerpoint

>I'm not so sure about that.

Yup; they bought it. Needed something to "compete" with Harvard
Graphics and Lotus *(?). So they bought the cheapest, simplest
alternative they could and then force-bundled it with Word and Excel in
Office pre-loads. Bye-bye Harvard Graphics and Lotus *(?), and
any other advanced or capable presentation graphics package.

Quote:>> Fox (became FoxPro)

>It was FoxPro before they bought it.

Became most of what is Access, today.

Quote:>> Avalanche (SGML tools)

>MS doesn't have SGML tools.

So why did they buy Avalanche's?

Quote:>> Visio

>So?

What?

Quote:>> Intuit got away because of <gasp> anti-trust concerns.

>And Intuit is still winning.

No, they're still losing, because they're still victimized by
Microsoft's monopoly, even while they "work with" MS so they can
maintain profitability.

--
T. Max Devlin
*** The best way to convince another is
to state your case moderately and
accurately. - Benjamin Franklin ***

by **William Shakespear** » Mon, 30 Apr 2001 07:57:34

> Said Erik Funkenbusch in alt.destroy.microsoft on Fri, 27 Apr 2001
> 00:07:08 -0500;

> >> Powerpoint

> >I'm not so sure about that.

> Yup; they bought it. Needed something to "compete" with Harvard
> Graphics and Lotus *(?).

* *Graphics*, Max, and it is excellent!!!!!!! BTW, so is
Corel Presentations and the Star Office presentation package. Yes,
there is a world beyond the bloated, memory-hogging, "run nothing else
at the same time" Powerpoint.

So they bought the cheapest, simplest

Quote:> alternative they could and then force-bundled it with Word and Excel in
> Office pre-loads. Bye-bye Harvard Graphics and Lotus *(?), and
> any other advanced or capable presentation graphics package.

Well, Powerpoint has only 75% so it is not totally over but that is
monopoly share.
--
Bill
"The second thing we do, let's kill all the editors." Edited out of
Henry IV, Part I.

by **Johan Kullsta** » Mon, 30 Apr 2001 10:15:39

> > Said Erik Funkenbusch in alt.destroy.microsoft on Fri, 27 Apr 2001
> > 00:07:08 -0500;

> > >> Powerpoint

> > >I'm not so sure about that.

> > Yup; they bought it. Needed something to "compete" with Harvard
> > Graphics and Lotus *(?).

> * *Graphics*, Max, and it is excellent!!!!!!! BTW, so is
> Corel Presentations and the Star Office presentation package. Yes,
> there is a world beyond the bloated, memory-hogging, "run nothing else
> at the same time" Powerpoint.

whether they bought it or not, powerpoint is bad even when comparing
to other ms products. why they just don't expand word to turn the
page in landscape and do big fonts i'll never know.

Quote:> So they bought the cheapest, simplest
> > alternative they could and then force-bundled it with Word and Excel in
> > Office pre-loads. Bye-bye Harvard Graphics and Lotus *(?), and
> > any other advanced or capable presentation graphics package.

> Well, Powerpoint has only 75% so it is not totally over but that is
> monopoly share.
> --
> Bill
> "The second thing we do, let's kill all the editors." Edited out of
> Henry IV, Part I.

--
J o h a n K u l l s t a m

Don't Fear the Penguin!

by **T. Max Devli** » Mon, 30 Apr 2001 14:50:06

Said Donn Miller in alt.destroy.microsoft on Sat, 28 Apr 2001 14:56:34

>> Except, of course, if there are radio stations or other broadcast
>> entities that only push out Windows Media Player format. Microsoft
>> is really trying to corner this market. They wanted to do this
>> with Java and other Internet protocols too, but they seem to be
>> having more success with Windows Media Player. I don't know why
>> there isn't more outrage about this.

>It's because of who those entities are being managed by. They are
>mostly marketing people who have one or two "introduction to Windows"
>courses, so they are just falling back to whatever limited computer
>knowledge they have. They never look at the big picture at what impact
>their decisions may ultimately have. Plus, there's the advertising
>aspect of the whole thing. MS probably markets things like
>content-controlled Media Player pretty aggressively. It's how MS got to
>where they are today - aggressive marketing and strategically
>controlling the software market.

I think you mean "illegally controlling the software market".

--
T. Max Devlin
*** The best way to convince another is
to state your case moderately and
accurately. - Benjamin Franklin ***

Very Computer

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP

Article: Want Media Player 8? Buy Windows XP