Microsoft and RealNetworks settle

Microsoft and RealNetworks will have a joint news conference in Seattle today...   Bill Gates and Rob Glaser face 2 face.

Can we see it?  On Quicktime?

No, but you can view it Live on WMP or Real Player at;

Microsoft/RealNetworks Press Conference 

eagle wrote:

No, but you can view it Live on WMP or Real Player 

I think I hear the sound of hatchets being buried...

jonathanh wrote:

eagle wrote:No, but you can view it Live on WMP or Real Player

I think I hear the sound of hatchets being buried...

Or is it because both formats are trembling at the superior *.qt/*.mov format?


Seriously though, Apple's player plugin is much more responsive and usable than Microsoft's offering.

For instance, dragging the trackbar in the Quicktime plugin lets you see where you are, with WMP or RealPlayer you're doing it blindly.

I also dislike WMP's streaming behaviour. WMP, unlike Quicktime, makes virtually no distinction between "play whilst download" and "proper streaming". Thus, dumbing everything down.

jonathanh wrote:

I think I hear the sound of hatchets being buried...

So how's the Google Office working out?...that hatchet buried with Sun really worked out for MS.

W3bbo wrote:

Seriously though, Apple's player plugin is much more responsive and usable than Microsoft's offering.

Really? I haven't checked it in a while, but I remember having convulsions of pain and anguish whenever I used Apple's Quicktimer player. Annoying extension-grabbing behavior, crappy control-panel and the player itself was slow to load and didn't have a full-screen mode.

I prefer downloading the QuicktimeAlternative codecs and using Media Player Classic.

Can anyone who watched it confirm, did Rob say "open will be closed" or something like that, soon after speaking about how great open/choices are? This was during the questions.

jonathanh wrote:

eagle wrote:No, but you can view it Live on WMP or Real Player

I think I hear the sound of hatchets being buried...

But the Real Player still sucks, right? Maybe "sucks" is too strong a word. Let's just say it blows.

* Bill's gonna give Real OCX? Those VB controls?
* Wow! Rhapsody in MSN IM -- that's unexpected. -- aahh -- using Media Player -- makes more sense.
* Weeks of collaboration?
* Finally, we found out what eagle does for a living.
* 18 months only. Hmmm.

Minh wrote:

* Finally, we found out what eagle does for a living.

Sorry I can't watch....care to explain?

I got to ask a question during the live Press conference regarding the EU court case and Microsoft legal counsel and RealNetworks legal counsel both answered that now that they have settled all their differences they expected that the EU will do the same.

This is bad news... and look at the stock:

SYMBOL	LAST	CHANGE		% CHANGE
• MSFT	24.27	-0.19		-0.78%
• RNWK	7.56	+1.82		+31.71%

I don't own any stock.....


Microsoft and RealNetworks Resolve Antitrust Case and Announce Digital Music and Games Partnership

eagle wrote:

I don't own any stock.....


Microsoft and RealNetworks Resolve Antitrust Case and Announce Digital Music and Games Partnership

I can't see that going well, Real's "Arcade" software is blatent spyware.

Does this mean WeatherBug and RealPlayer will come bundled with Windows Vista?

W3bbo wrote:

I also dislike WMP's streaming behaviour. WMP, unlike Quicktime, makes virtually no distinction between "play whilst download" and "proper streaming". Thus, dumbing everything down.

I actually find that a quite annoying aspect of Quicktime. If I click on a link to a .mov, all I get is a "downloading" message in the status bar of IE with no indication of progress. In WMP I get streaming, even if the server isn't set up for it. On the odd chance that I want to save the video, I can right click and save it.

That and the nag screen, no full screen view (I like that I can doubelclick on embedded WMP videos like the ones here on c9 and get full screen. I can't do that with QT), and the self-important need to co-opt extensions and plant another useless tray icon, drive my dislike for Quicktime.

DCMonkey wrote:

I actually find that a quite annoying aspect of Quicktime. If I click on a link to a .mov, all I get is a "downloading" message in the status bar of IE with no indication of progress.

Ah, well, in my Firefox installation Quicktime works perfectly.

DCMonkey wrote:

In WMP I get streaming, even if the server isn't set up for it. On the odd chance that I want to save the video, I can right click and save it.

WMP won't let you save Streams though

DCMonkey said:

That and the nag screen, no full screen view (I like that I can doubelclick on embedded WMP videos like the ones here on c9 and get full screen. I can't do that with QT), and the self-important need to co-opt extensions and plant another useless tray icon, drive my dislike for Quicktime.

You can disable the trayicon and background process easily. As for co-opting extensions, I haven't experienced any problems with that myself.

Although I use Quicktime Pro, but I understand there are a number of "patches" that remove the nag-screens from Quicktime.

W3bbo wrote:

WMP won't let you save Streams though

There is that. Does the Free QTP let you do that?

W3bbo wrote:

You can disable the trayicon and background process easily. As for co-opting extensions, I haven't experienced any problems with that myself.

I know the savvy user can avoid both issues. I'm more irked by the defaults.

W3bbo wrote:

Although I use Quicktime Pro, but I understand there are a number of "patches" that remove the nag-screens from Quicktime.

Yeah, I know there is some clock setting hack workaround, but I find it easier to just avoid viewing QT videos whenever possible.