On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, Vic wrote:
> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 01:56:15 -0500
> From: Vic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [expert] Asf files
>
> Same here Civil, same here I HATE that.
>
> Damn Microsoft, damn them to hell,
> I hope the govt does split them up and they
> fall like a shot down plane in WWII
> and crash and burn even harder.
>
I hate to admit but they are not entirely to blame for this. First off,
you don't find a cheap and easy to use MPEG/MPEG2 encoder for free very
often, most of this software works on pre-recorded files, and costs a lot
of money. The crappy windows media garbage is free and can record
real-time, requiring less disk space than an mpeg solution. The other
thing is that hardware MPEG boards are not cheap, and the file size is
rather large compared to these streaming formats.
Now comes the argument of Real Networks, their products are annoying as
hell, sure the encoder and player are free, but they require so much
registration it is really a pain to get, as well as the crippled options,
and making it nearly impossible to find for anyone. Their products annoy
the crap outta you, they make erally bad nag-ware, not to mention having a
lack of stability at times. Also, their format is bug-prone, as an
incomplete download results in a movie that is *barely playable* as well.
Now, Apple's quicktime is also real bad, as between Apple and Microsoft,
almost all the Codecs are exclusively licensed by them. Apple's player is
purely annoying as it asks whether or not you want to upgrade every time
you use it. Not to mention that not too many hardware quicktime solutions
exist for the PC.
I know that Micro$oft is big and bad, but they seem to have the only
viable solution for streaming when it comes to price and features on the
WIN/MAC platforms. I really wish they would port the media player over to
Linux, but then again who knows what kind of things it will screw up, or
how intentionally slow and bloated it will be?
I hope there is still a chance to reclaim the market with a more open
implementation.
> On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, you wrote:
> > On Sun, 23 Jul 2000, you wrote:
> > > Anyone know where I can find something
> > > in linux to play those dangbusted asf files?
> >
> > Not no but "hell, No!"
> >
> > Microshaft PATENTED the *.asf format ignoring the preexisting mpeg formats on
> > which it is based. If there is ever a way to read the (decidedly second rate
> > quality) Active Stream Format files, it will have to be written by Microsoft.
> > Anyone writing a program to decode the *.asf files, without written permission
> > of Microsoft, is an infringer.
> >
> > Anyway, likely the patent is crap. But the US Patent Office is the #1
> > Embarassment of the Digital Age, handing out software patents with very little
> > research (same staff, and ten times the workload) and letting the courts decide
> > which is valid. Anyone have a spare $200 million (US) to go to court on this
> > patent with Microsoft and PROVE it is invalid?
> >
> > And if you see words in this message I do not normally type, I think you can
> > see that I am furious because I am helpless before these bozos.
> >
> > Civileme
>
--
Regards,
Ellick Chan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jul 24
