Neowin.net - EU May Be Fighting Yesterday's War Against Microsoft

EU May Be Fighting Yesterday's War Against Microsoft

Posted by malebolgia on 04 February 2004 - 20:26 · 14 comments & 726 views

European Union regulators may still be fighting yesterday's antitrust war against Microsoft's Media Player while the software giant marches on to conquer Google. The search engine seems so impregnable that "to google" has become a verb meaning to look for something on the Web. But Microsoft has shown elsewhere that it can go from nothing to monopoly. The European Commission will rule soon that Microsoft illegally bundled its Media Player audio-visual software into its dominant Windows operating systems to help defeat rival RealNetworks. While the investigation was under way, Microsoft's market share zoomed past RealNetworks.

In the 1990s, Microsoft crushed the once-dominant pioneer Web browser Netscape Navigator, clearing the way for its own Internet Explorer to become ubiquitous. The United States took the software giant to court and won its antitrust case. But the remedies the government then negotiated are narrow and, critics say, poorly enforced. Microsoft has said the remedies solved any problems. In a recent court filing, Microsoft said it "has made compliance with its obligations ... a top priority of the company, and the company continues to devote substantial resources to its compliance work." The U.S. judge in the case agreed, saying that for the most part, "The (court) decree seems to be working."

News source: Reuters

This last version has been improved by adding a number of important new functions:

- DVD-VR import
- Export to DV camera
- Improved capture quality and hardware support
- Powerful Undo/Redo function
- Choose between 1-Pass and 2-Pass encoding
- Default template for new project
- DVR-MS (Windows XP Media Center Edition file format) support for Win XP SP1
- New filters/effects
- Invert Color
- Multiply pixel
- Gamma correction
- Edges detection
- Emboss
- Enhance details
- Enhance edges
- Enhance focus
- Light edges
- Shift edges
- Soften filter
- Splitting function for slideshows with a large number of pictures
- Half-D1 resolution for DVD supported
- AMD64bit support

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#1 Posted by kitchenutensils on 04 Feb 2004 - 22:04: Those F*U*C*K*A*S (microsoft)

(4 replies) #2 Posted by StuRReaL on 04 Feb 2004 - 22:05: yes thats all well and good but real have yet to put together a good player which is none irritating, and doesn't invade every corner of your OS, and as for its server software well..... i can't say enough bad things about that, its windows server doesn't work properly and its linux server is only stable on Ret Hat 8 if you can get xfree stable enough to use it.

Is it any wonder MS has dominance its format is currently the best with quicktime close behind.

#3 Posted by tomaras on 05 Feb 2004 - 04:06: Let's not forget that Real's founder Rob Glaser started out adding CD playing capabilities to the Windows OS when he was still working for Microsoft. Glaser is all sour grapes and the full Reuters article is full of it as well. It seems that many feel Microsoft should just provide a vehicle for everyone else's software. I just want to install something and have it do everything I want it to do. When I look at all the garbage apps that come bundled with new computers it make me want to puke.

(2 replies) #4 Posted by ricknl on 05 Feb 2004 - 08:21: And as far as I know Windows Media Player is there since Windows 3.1 (I wouldn't know the earlier versions of Windows Media Player). Why didn't they make a problem out of it back then?

#5 Posted by elliot on 05 Feb 2004 - 10:22: the day real one player is bundled with my windows is the day i stop using it.

worst.... mediaplayer.... ever....

#6 Posted by MitchShrader on 05 Feb 2004 - 12:04: Can't speak for future versions.. but. I currently remove realplayer from all comps i touch. And if they refuse to use alternatives, they can find another tech. Wimp isn't *much* better.. but some. And for the record, i won't use IT except in v. 6.4 with added codecs. yeah, media player classic is ok too. QT is barely acceptable, i cringe and squirm but if you HAVE to have QT, it's not as poison as real..

#7 Posted by SniperX on 06 Feb 2004 - 11:48: "Windows operating systems to help defeat rival RealNetworks"

Well, I suppose that's one thing we can be thankful for. Real Player is absolute crap whichever way you look at it.

#8 Posted by toastedcrumpets on 09 Feb 2004 - 00:58: WMP is cool but I cant stop that annoying media guide page n slow media librarys. For real media (*.rm etc) theres only one "Real alternative". I love that program

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