[pmistry]

Check this, I recently tried to play a video in Internet Explorer. I clicked the link and Windows Media Player (7.0) opened up and played a video perfectly fine and then closed, then IE crashed and then I was asked to send an error report, I did and then it asked if I wanted to see more information about this problem. I said yes and followed the link and led me here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp...;LCID=1033&


Now MS is telling me to upgrade to a new version of Windows Media Player, I found that to be odd, I mean why won't this version work properly? I mean all I wanted to do was view a video, I don't need the resource hogging WM 8. I just think this is stupid and not really a solution, its almost as if it was meant to crash on purpose.
Ok, I am going to stop ranting now.

[DosFreak]

It's called making money. Which Microsoft excels at. The only way to get Media Player 8 is to download the hack that MAY work on ME/2000. (2000 is a sure thing, ME is not) or to upgrade to XP. THANK YOU M1cro@ft!

The only thing I can recommend is to try a non Micro@oft Media Player.

[sapiens74]

But its free.

[DosFreak]

But XP is not...well technically.

[pmistry]

Quote:

The only thing I can recommend is to try a non Micro@oft Media Player.

Could you illuminate me with some possible software applications that accomplish the identical approach as demonstrated by Microsoft's ignorant packaged line of code (software)?

[Sampson]

Actually the message reads "earlier than version 7.1." While the "latest and greatest" 7 series player has the moniker 7.01. in the About pulldown, it is the 7.1 that Microsoft is referring to. You mention that you were using 7.0. Just upgrade it. I'm not trying to be patronizing and I do agree that Microsoft is discontented that the world, particularly the business world, is not beating down its door for XP.

[sapiens74]

THat because hardware hasnt caught up yet.

[sapiens74]

THat because hardware hasnt caught up yet.

[thekourier]

Yea, no one likes the fact that Microsoft forces you to upgrade your OS every so often to get access to the latest and greatest (ie NT only supports DirectX 3 etc).

But think about it, when Ford comes out with a new car they don't upgrade your old one. If Sony comes out with a new DVD player that plays MP3's they don't send out new firmware for the old systems. Your PlayStation 1 isn't upgradable either. Sony is forcing you to buy a new Playstation by releasing games that are not PS1 compatible.

Microsoft is certainly not the greatest company in the world, but if you want new features and functionality you gotta pay for it. Or you can always put Linux on your home PVR box like I did and spend 2 weeks adding drivers and rebuilding the kernel to make it work (somewhat). It's free, but you get what you pay for IMHO.

[Four and Twenty]

Quote:

Yea, no one likes the fact that Microsoft forces you to upgrade your OS every so often to get access to the latest and greatest (ie NT only supports DirectX 3 etc).

But think about it, when Ford comes out with a new car they don't upgrade your old one. If Sony comes out with a new DVD player that plays MP3's they don't send out new firmware for the old systems. Your PlayStation 1 isn't upgradable either. Sony is forcing you to buy a new Playstation by releasing games that are not PS1 compatible.

Microsoft is certainly not the greatest company in the world, but if you want new features and functionality you gotta pay for it. Or you can always put Linux on your home PVR box like I did and spend 2 weeks adding drivers and rebuilding the kernel to make it work (somewhat). It's free, but you get what you pay for IMHO.

Probably one of the best posts about reality i have seen on this board on a while.

MS = Good product
Good product costs money
pay money get good product
or just steal it or something
people ***** all the time about MS
it just gets old
I mean if MS didn't come along we would all be using macs
imagine that!

[clutch]

@thekourier,

Nice post.

[sapiens74]

Agreed. Good post :P

[BladeRunner]

*Nods in agreement with the wise thekourier*

[pmistry]

I just found it odd that the promotion to upgrade came inside a bug report, that's the core of my rant. The big problem I have with MS is the fact that each new Windows OS has less "optional" components. The new XP SP1 may go towards fixing this. I sure damn hope so.

[clutch]

I can understand what you are saying, but the thread started spinning off into a rant about how MS wants to make more money and how they don't want to support older stuff. There just comes a time when you decide that you have the platform you need for a while and not worry about it, or move forward. However, it looks like you will have to move forward in *some* manner (either by upgrading the OS/WMP or finding another media player). thkourier's post basically pointed out that the PC industry is one of the few (if not only) industries where upgrading is permitted, rather than all out replacement. And the comment he made about game consoles is why I haven't ever bought one; I don't care for the idea of buying a console and games for it, and then not being able to get new games for it a few years down the road when the new unit comes out. The PS1 lasted a long time, and the PS2 is backward compatible, so this is the best attempt I have seen at this yet but I am still waiting to see what's next.

[Brian Frank]

Agreed with pmistry's comment about less optional components, especially with the NT OS's.
Consoles used to be cool, but once I discovered the PC side of gaming, anything else, even the Xbox, pales in comparison.

[pmistry]

Yes, while they do stop making PS 1 games for the PSX and then move to a PS2 there is a gigantic difference between the console world and the PC World. At least with a Playstation, in theory any game you buy made for the PS 1 will work fine with the Playstation. It is easier to develop games for a platform that doesn't change or differ from one another. Sure a PS 1 will die out after a few years so what? I still have an old 8-bit Nintendo system that I fire up every once in awhile to play old games that I have. So Sony moves on to the PS2 thats fine, at least you will have 3 years or so of good PS 2 games, and then PS3, and with backwards compatibility with old PS 1 games its still pretty good. As for the PC yes they are upgradeable but you get problems with differents chipsets, incompatibilities, and for games you probably have to upgrade some component every year to stay with the pack. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't bought a console since my Genesis and I have no intention in getting one. I like PC games but its an expensive route too. Either you upgrade your PC every few years or buy a new console, the price difference is about the same.

[pmistry]

Now with what thekourier said about the upgrade options, he's completely right. However, you've got to admit that no other company can frustrate you as much as MS can. I mean when NT4 was out, I really wanted full Directx, USB, and AGP, along with Plug and Play, but they wouldn't give it to us. The same with Windows 2000, I wanted full 9x game compatibility but that didn't happen. MS is very tactful they know how to get people frustrated enough so that they will fork over the money to upgrade sometimes. I see no real reason why MS couldn't patch some of that support I mentioned above into the OS. When NT4 first shipped it lacked any sort of DirectX support but eventually we got quasi-DX3 but then couldn't patch higher than that and Direct3D is non-existent.

[three]

i don't understand, how is it the same as the automobile industry? we are talking about something completely different here, this is software vs. hardware, same goes for references towards the consoles. (ie, if a new pc game comes out, it's time to upgrade hardware, not software).

not only ms, but i think the whole software industry in general are making more than they deserve, i can say they are like the music industry. it doesn't take US$100~200 to make a cd/box/manual....but it does take US$10,000~... to make a car.

[clutch]

Quote:

i don't understand, how is it the same as the automobile industry?

He was drawing parallels with automobiles and consumer electronics in general vs. the PC industry. So yes, the comparisons do apply. In both, you have the hardware and software portions. Each model year brings out newer items and fixes, and unless it's major enough to mandate a recall, these new items never make it to older products (whereas in the PC world they tend to).

With respect to the comment on NT4 not supporting AGP, USB, and newer versions of DirectX I imagine that this was because the OS was always geared for stability, and not too much for multimedia/gaming. Win2K was designed from the ground up to support this, and WinXP was the next extension on this. I still really like NT4 myself, but I love my USB gadgets even more .