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Posted on 12/06/2005 3:03:25 AM PST by Panerai
Sounds like Rob Glaser is a shakedown artist. And RealPlayer is spyware.
Wow. So you're saying that most people are too stupid to choose anything other than Windows. Nice DNC channeling you have going on there.
Steve Jobs has a brash, irritating personality, but he brough the company he founded from the brink of bankruptcy to a leading technology company. There's no denying he's an asshole, but he deserves credit for what he's done.
What he doesnt deserve credit for is "stealing" anything. The "theft" from Xeros did not happen, Apple PAID for a technology showing, they got it, and they never saw source code. They were already developing their ideas before the PARC dog & pony show, it was just to prove the concept to Jobs, who had'nt "got" the Mac concept yet. Many, many companies got the same demo of PARCs stuff, and later went on to publish computers and software - did they "steal" too?
It's well documented. Xerox lost their lawsuit over it. Get over it. "Pirates Of The Silicon Valley", while entertaining, had more to do with fiction than reality - and that's for everyone involved, not just Jobs.
"At the Digital Living Conference here on Monday, Glaser told a packed hotel ballroom that Jobs & Co.'s refusal to make the iPod compatible with music services other than Apple's iTunes was "pig-headedness." Glaser also said that Apple's unwillingness to cooperate with other online music vendors promotes piracy of copyrighted materials and will eventually draw the wrath of consumers."
Dream on, Glaser. You're just whining and snivelling because people clued into your crap software years ago, and what little business you have left is being eclipsed by iTunes and Rhapsody and the other download sites.
How you can POSSIBLY justify your piracy accusations is astounding. Just because people won't use your spyware to download music means they'll download music illegally? The man is insane.
This is the last we'll hear from Glaser. Real will make no headway with their products, and iTunes and all the others will continue to make money hand over fist.
On the same page where you downloaded QuickTime, there's a link for the "QuickTime Standalone Installer."
Quicktime is gone.
There is something about media applications or anything trendy where everyone wants to OWN the consumer.
Yesterday, I was looking for ringtones for my cellphone. READ the fine print on those sites! ALL OF IT! Even though it is written in Lawyerspeak, page after page..Or you will find yourself with unwanted $9.99/ month "Subscriptions", having your data sold, etc.etc.
There is a non-Apple "Quicktime Alternative"(Search) player that will play those MOV files without resorting to unwanted bundling.
NOTHING IS FREE.
When websites advertise "Free Downloads" one quickly finds out that "FREE" is something most people cannot afford.
All the Real Player has to do is give up its own proprietary (and annoying) RM format and generate video output in MP4 format - instant iPod compatibility. But since this is the man who cursed America with Maria Cantwell, I wouldn't expect him to know much about standards. ;)
Look for Microsoft to develop, or buy a company to develop and manufacture MS-Tune apparatus with a contract to download via realnetworks. Right now Apple is running away from the (lack of) competition.
There is a "Follow the herd" thing, almost more like extortion. We all know about the Linux alternative, but here is where it gets me: Two on my machines here are (Red Hat) linux. But I work a Day Job, and run a business and work over a hundred hours a week (No thanks to my worthless 401(k) ).
I simply do not have an hour a week to get all my docs over onto those systems, fully learn Linux sufficiently to use it exclusively,and figure out the updates and drivers all the time. I would LOVE to. I put it on an old P-3 733 MHz machine that used to limp along under Wxx, and it screams on Linux. I see the advantages.
But not this week.
I encounter a need for Quicktime about twice a year. I generally don't bother with videos. The particular movie trailer I wanted to watch never played anyway, even after the download.
Monopoly in this sense means that you can control the market and set prices since you have such a large chunk of it. It doesn't mean you have to own all of the market. Microsoft for years was able to control the OS and office productivity markets. The fact that MS-lovers here say "IE is the web standard, therefore site operators should write to it" means to me that IE is a monopoly -- it has a large marketshare and can control the market. It's already set the price of a browser at $0.
Due to the increasing popularity and usability of alternatives, and their forced change of behavior regarding OEMs, I'd say their OS monopoly is waning. A combination of Firefox and MS's own complacency is hurting their IE monopoly. Their Office monopoly still stands, although it is about to slide due to Massachusetts using the market (as opposed to a lawsuit, I like that) to force MS to open their Office format.
That's the spot price, and actually it's lower than that now - you can get 512 MB NAND chips for under $30 now. Buy them on contract and you can get them for much, much less, though - around half that price if your timing is good.
Quicktime is gone.
Try going to Free-Codecs.com and check out both Real Alternative and Quicktime Alternative. There are also a number of "codec packs" that bundle codecs for just about every format of audio and video file there is.
Mark
I'm just being grumpy. I don't have much use for Quicktime, don't like the adware that comes with it, so I just skip it.
I uninstalled Realplayer because it insisted on poping up with ads and announcements. This stuff doesn't give me enough benefit to be worth the bother.
The thing about iPods is not only are they very good players they are a status symbol. Look at any college campus in America and you will see about every 3rd person with those white earbuds in. No one will think you are cool with a cheap Chinese knockoff. You need the real thing.
No one will think you are cool with a cheap Chinese knockoff. You need the real thing.
That'll change as the market matures.
The iPod has been a moving target for years and they still haven't been able to catch up. I think all it will take is for Apple to rest on its laurels with the iPod for a year, but they show no signs of doing so. Or it will take some fantastic product from someone else (not just in the specs and price, but in everything), and I haven't seen any signs of that either.
College kids will always be college kids and rarely mature. No one is even remotely close to coming out with a high dollar product that combines all of the elements that go into an mp3 player as well as Apple, especially not style. Are you going to tell me that there will be a knockoff that 18-24 year olds are going to find more stylish and cool than the iPod?
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