Microsoft to bring out Windows XP N
SgtMinor
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-29-msoft-usat_x.htm
Old Gringo
> But not exactly voluntarily:
> http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-29-msoft-usat_x.htm
>
as to why. Is the WMP in WinXP not uninstallable?
--
Old Gringo George
Magic Weaver Of Life
Enjoy Life And Live It To Its Fullest
Freedom For The World <http://www.nuboy-industries.com/>
Toolman Tim
"Old Gringo" <oldgringo747...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8aH2e.7661$yq2....@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
> SgtMinor wrote:
>> But not exactly voluntarily:
>> http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-29-msoft-usat_x.htm
> I found the article quite interesting but not find a logical reason as to
> why. Is the WMP in WinXP not uninstallable?
>
>
Old Gringo
it's part of a package deal, I'll take it. Like free Factory
installed air conditioning or an automatic transmission at the same
price with out. I think that there are parts of the world that are
to closely interbred.
SgtMinor
> SgtMinor wrote:
>> But not exactly voluntarily:
>> http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-29-msoft-usat_x.htm
>>
> I found the article quite interesting but not find a logical reason
> as to why. Is the WMP in WinXP not uninstallable?
>
Uninstallable, not exactly, but it's not simple. In some of its
literature MS suggests that when installing WMP 10 on an XP machine that
the user create a restore point first.
And then there's that outrageous EULA you must agree to.
--
"The word 'unblowuppable' is thrown around a lot these days."
-- Homer J Simpson
SgtMinor
> Toolman Tim wrote:
>> "Old Gringo" <oldgringo747...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:8aH2e.7661$yq2....@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
>>
>>>SgtMinor wrote:
>>>
>>>>But not exactly voluntarily:
>>>>http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-29-msoft-usat_x.htm
>>>
>>>I found the article quite interesting but not find a logical reason as to
>>>why. Is the WMP in WinXP not uninstallable?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Nope. MS got sued (monopoly issues), and lost.
>>
>>
> Thanks for the info: From the article that is what I gathered. If
> it's part of a package deal, I'll take it. Like free Factory
> installed air conditioning or an automatic transmission at the same
> price with out. I think that there are parts of the world that are
> to closely interbred.
>
If you like those kinds of package deals you must love software
downloads with free spyware, trojans, viruses, and what not, all free.
Windows OS's are porous bloatware to begin with and I'd prefer not to
have some other programs intertwined with that messy ball of code. I'd
rather pick my own media player just like I picked my own browser and
email client.
Old Gringo
> Old Gringo wrote:
>
>> SgtMinor wrote:
>>
>>> But not exactly voluntarily:
>>> http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-29-msoft-usat_x.htm
>>>
>>
>> I found the article quite interesting but not find a logical reason as
>> to why. Is the WMP in WinXP not uninstallable?
>>
>
> Uninstallable, not exactly, but it's not simple. In some of its
> literature MS suggests that when installing WMP 10 on an XP machine that
> the user create a restore point first.
>
> And then there's that outrageous EULA you must agree to.
>
Old Gringo
I have tried desperately to get others to work but to no avail. Tks
Vanguard
news:Ju6dnd81nNP...@comcast.com...
> But not exactly voluntarily:
> http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-29-msoft-usat_x.htm
Well, let's see the economic dynamics here. Microsoft will produce
version of Windows XP that does not have Windows Media Player in it.
What was Microsoft charging for WMP? Nothing, just more fluff along
with all the other non-OS fluff they add to the OS (and if all the fluff
were removed users would think they were back to DOS with a command
line). Microsoft will produce a version of Windows XP that will still
have WMP included. What will be the cost increase? Nothing.
So, you could get Windows XP with WMP (which you can still configure as
to which player handles which filetype) or you could get Windows XP
without WMP. Big deal. What will be the price difference? Nothing.
Why? Because Microsoft wasn't charging for WMP in the first place.
Geez, like it takes a genius to figure out that Microsoft will still be
selling their with-WMP version in the same regions where they are forced
to also provide a without-WMP version and there will no impact on
Microsoft's bottom line. With or without it they still make the same
amount of money. Without-WMP won't sell much so With-WMP will still
dominate. Say you're given the option to buy the full retail versions
of Windows XP Pro (with WMP) at $270 or to buy the full retail version
of Windows XP Pro N (without WMP) at the same $270. Sure, we all know
you're going to pay the same amount so you can get less functionality.
Yep, I sure want to pay the full price of Windows XP but get a version
that doesn't have the crippled backup program, the crippled disk cleanup
wizard, the disk management applet (since, gee, that might compete with
3rd party disk partitioning tools), the minimal feature Fax service
(since that competes with 3rd party fax software), all those games
because obviously all those game developers are losing huge bucks on
those, the Calculator is obviously demolishing the market for 3rd party
computational tools, and even the desktop GUI should be removed (since
the UI is not strictly part of an OS) and return you to a command-line
because all those 3rd parties that want to develop their own desktop GUI
substitutes. The European market for 3rd party software is so fucking
weak that it cannot compete in a market where the Microsoft freebie is
at the low end of the scale for similar products? Oh, poor Adobe, who
must be so severely harmed in their sales of Photoshop because of
Microsoft's inclusion of Paint. Uh huh. So, there's WMP which is
included for free and that competes unfairly against, uh, the free
RealPlayer. Oh yeah, free products competing against each other. At
least Real has a revenue channel by having a paid version but Microsoft
is not afforded that same right, and if Microsoft did charge for an
improved version of WMP then the EU and whiners would be screaming more
antitrust mantra. Yeah, that's fair.
Who won? The European Commission that wanted to prove they had more
clout than Microsoft. Users really are so stupid that they simply
cannot choose NOT to use WMP and use whatever media player they want?
Tell that to all those Firefox users that choose to use Firefox despite
Internet Explorer still being installed on the same box. The only
effective savings in removing WMP will be 25MB in disk space, and you
can get about 10 times more than that just by deleting all the old
%systemroot%\$NT* folders containing all the backups of patches that
you've installed.
The article mentioned describes a pointless ruling. There must be
something else behind this for it to affect Microsoft's revenue stream;
otherwise, there is no point to it. There is background info regarding
this decision is that not revealed in this article but, hey, it is,
after all, a USA Today article and that's typical for them. The article
makes the EU's decision seems ridiculously stupid since it will have no
effect on Microsoft's revenue or market share.
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Toolman Tim
<Vanguard> wrote in message news:ScidnfbYNol...@comcast.com...
That's always been my understanding as well...I have chosen a different
media player myself. Does that mean WMP causes problems? Certainly not. Nor
did it restrict or monopolize my choices in how to use my computer. Duh!
> Tell that to all those Firefox users that choose to use Firefox despite
> Internet Explorer still being installed on the same box. The only
> effective savings in removing WMP will be 25MB in disk space, and you can
> get about 10 times more than that just by deleting all the old
> %systemroot%\$NT* folders containing all the backups of patches that
> you've installed.
>
> The article mentioned describes a pointless ruling. There must be
> something else behind this for it to affect Microsoft's revenue stream;
> otherwise, there is no point to it. There is background info regarding
> this decision is that not revealed in this article but, hey, it is, after
> all, a USA Today article and that's typical for them. The article makes
> the EU's decision seems ridiculously stupid since it will have no effect
> on Microsoft's revenue or market share.
>
Correct! "Uh oh-Windows no longer has WMP...I think I'll have to buy a Mac,
or install Linux, or something even weirder because *MY* version of Windows
doesn't have WMP...woe is me!". C'mon people...