@evildictaitor: VLC could be an option, but the legal is concerning. In the end it's one more piece of software to keep track of and update.
As far as schools and legalities are concerned, I wouldn't feel safe just because we are an academic institution. The MPAA has chased institutions for students using limewire and other P2P software on academic networks. Blocking the software makes sure our network stays healthy, as well as making the legal people happy.
Right now, we are not even sure we are ready to consider a jump to 8. The learning curve is way too large for a percentage of our employees.
