Ya! And what if they take the Library away? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC audio discussion list. " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 9:26 AM Subject: Re: The Future of Winamp
It's too bad this is happening to one of the best players around. If they stop development of Winamp, we'll just have to keep the one we've got, if we can use it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Pattison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 5:39 AM Subject: Fwd: The Future of Winamp > *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** > On 11/11/2004 at 3:44 PM geoff chapman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > check this out, AOL pays 100 million dollars for this one little > nullsoft > company? amazing! just amazing! > > If anyone would like to educate me as to how one little program that > does > one little job, could possibly become worth, such a huge figure to one > company to pay, to acquire another, I'd reeeeeeally love to understand > this. > something about the world I just don't get here yet obviously. > > ... goodness, one more thing! <grin>. > >>From an article on the Betanews site: > Death Knell Sounds for Nullsoft, Winamp > By > Nate Mook > , BetaNews > November 10, 2004, 1:26 PM > The last members of the original Winamp team have said goodbye to AOL > and > the door > has all but shut on the Nullsoft era, BetaNews has learned. > Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital > audio > player with > minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are expected. > \ > Winamp's demise comes as no surprise to those close to the company who > say > the software > has been on life support since the resignation of Nullsoft founder and > Winamp creator > Justin Frankel last January. > The marriage of Nullsoft and AOL was always one of discontent. After > AOL > acquired > the small company in 1999 for around $100 million, the young team of > Winamp developers > was assimilated into a strict corporate culture that begged for > rebellion. > Although > Nullsoft was initially given a long leash by AOL, It wasn't long until > the > two ideologies > collided. > Frankel and his team were accustomed to simply brainstorming ideas over > coffee and > bringing them to the masses without approval. So when Frankel and > fellow > Nullsoft > developer Tom Pepper devised a decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing > system, dubbed > Gnutella, parent AOL was left in the dark. > Gnutella was unveiled > in March 2000, much to the chagrin of an unprepared AOL; executives > feared > the program > would encourage copyright infringement and damage the company's pending > merger with > Time Warner. AOL quickly clamped down on Gnutella, but not before the > software's > source code leaked. Gnutella-based alternatives soon followed, igniting > a > peer-to-peer > land grab that has yet to subside. > But AOL knew it had to protect its investment and turn a profit from > the > freely available > Winamp. Frankel and crew found themselves in hot water numerous times, > but > always > escaped with little more than a proverbial slap on the wrist. > However, growing displeasure reached a boiling point with Nullsoft's > unsanctioned > release of WASTE > -- an encrypted file-sharing network -- in June 2003. Frankel > threatened > to resign > after AOL > removed WASTE > , but remained with the company long enough to finish Winamp 5.0. > Frankel's departure followed AOL layoffs and the closure of Nullsoft's > San > Francisco > offices in December 2003. > With AOL struggling to stave off declining subscriber numbers and > 700 additional layoffs > planned for next month, the company's focus has shifted away from > supporting acquisitions > such as Winamp. > Despite the somber farewell, Nullsoft's former masterminds are proud of > their accomplishments. > Winamp helped start a digital audio revolution and boasts an incredible > 60 > million > users per month. > After a disappointing > Winamp3 > , Nullsoft developers returned to the drawing board and completed > long-standing goals > with the release of > Winamp 5.0 > in late 2003. > Nullsoft's > Shoutcast > , which pioneered audio streaming over the Internet, is called "the > Net's > best secret" > by its creator Tom Pepper and has reached 170,000 simultaneous users > accounting for > 70 million hours of listening each month. > For its part, AOL says it remains committed to Winamp, stating it is "a > thriving > product that AOL continues to support and will continue to support." > But without those who poured their heart and soul into building the > software, Winamp > seems destined to meet a fate similar to fellow audio player > Sonique > , after Lycos saw the departure of its development team. Sonique has > stagnated for > years, and development ceased altogether last March. > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > When you have eliminated the impossible. > whatever remains, however improbable, > must be the truth. > *********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** > > Regards Steve, > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype: steve1963 > MSN Messenger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
