Can you imagine? I can’t. Sad but true, Microsoft lost its Europe appeal & will now have to ship Windows without Windows Media Player, reports The Register.
I was against this when the decision was slapped by the EU on Micosoft & I’m still against it.
Firstly you don’t have any right to tell a company that they can’t give out a software of theirs for FREE with another software of theirs. That’s just taking away the freedom of doing business legitimately, that’s just dictatorship, when you are telling a company how they should sell their software, even when they are doing nothing wrong.
Secondly, where do the people have a say in this matter, as the EU so puffed-uply said that it should be people who should decide whether they want Windows Media Player in their software or not. Did the EU ask people’s opinion in this matter? Did they held a secret poll to know people’s opinion? No, they did nothing of that sort, they just slapped a Media Player less Windows onto the people & if they want Media Player, they can have it seperately, downloaded from Microsoft website. And what if some poor guy doesn’t have an internet connection(I don’t think Europe’s every computer user has an Internet Connection), then he’d have to possibly shell out a bit more to obtain the Media Player CD from his vendor. Otherwise, if he downloads it, it still requires bandwidth. Whose gonna pay in either case, the EU? 🙄
And what’s wrong with Media Player in there with Windows? If somebody doesn’t want it in their Windows, then simply un-install it or just ignore it. What’s the big fuss? No, the big fuss over here is that Real Networks is just trying hard to earn its much needed bread by selling some licenses of its in-capable trash of a music player called Real Player, to survive in a world where it doesn’t belong. 👿 I just don’t know why people bother to pay for that piece of crap when much better options are available for FREE in the form of Windows Media Player & Winamp? Just goes to show that there are still lots of dunder heads present in this world who don’t know what they are paying for. 🙄
I knew that there are some very senile people in EU but this is ridiculous. Or maybe they are more smart than what the rest of us think. Perhaps we should ask how much did Real Networks paid(or promised rather as I don’t think that they are in a situation to pay any big amount if they are this desperate) EU for this un-democratic decision.
I’m concerned about the people employed by the Real Networks, do they get their paycheck on time? 🙄
All I can say now is that people of Europe should slam this decision in EU’s face. That will be the right thing to do.
Couldn’t agree more.. IE might be a useless browser, but if they want to include it with windows thats their decision.. Same applies for ie.. Linux distros oft include mozilla browsers, and have done for some time, nobody says a word.. samba gets included, nothing.. these are completely seperate products, and nobody says anything, iTunes comes with OSX right? why is that not an issue? It’s only Microsoft gets treated this way, shouldn’t be one rule for one, and another rule for everbody else, it’s quite discusting imho..
I couldn’t disagree more with you. Well, at least we agree in one thing: Real Player sucks. But that’s not the problem.
You cannot uninstall Windows Media Player. Same goes for IE. Honestly, I think the EU did the right choice. Microsoft takes advantage of the fact of Windows being the most used OS to crush competition. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the fact they give away software with Windows; they should give out even more software (look at the pure gold of software that you get with any Linux distro or with Mac OS X). The thing is, the software that comes bundled with Windows is a pact with the Devil. You get software, yes, but when Microsoft decides that they everyone has to use the piece of software they bundled, no one can get rid of it. I wouldn’t be against with WMP being bundled with Windows if you would be able to pick it as an optional package, or at least, be able to uninstall it later. That’s the main problem with software that comes with Windows, they soon turn into OS components, cannot be uninstalled and everyone will be forced to have it around, cluttering space on your hard disk.
But yes, the measure EU took was a little bit extreme, but it was needed. Despite all the trials about IE, we still have IE as a part of Windows, having a weird symbiosis relationship with the Windows shell itself. The symbiose of WMP with Windows was stopped at the right time, when it was still starting. It’s much harder to split IE from Windows now, since they pratically merged. And since I don’t use IE, I would love to have it uninstalled from my PC without having to modify 200 system files and breaking half of the Windows Explorer.
Oh, and just because the EU government actually has laws that protect people’s privacy online and it isn’t kissing the butt of big corporations, doesn’t mean they are senile. Heck, if you want to talk about senile people look at the DMCA and the Patriot Act.
Let me put you a little straight my friend. You can un-install Media Player as well as any other software that Microsoft gives you like WordPad, Paint etc. You just need to click the Add/Remove Programs in your Control Panel & click Add/Remove Windows Components in that window. A new one will open & there you need to browse & uncheck whatever you wish to un-install. Simply because Microsoft didn’t tell you doesn’t mean that you can’t un-install these things. 😉
As for Microsoft taking advantage of Windows being the popular OS & everyone accusing Microsoft of being a monopolist, tell me, had any other company been there where Microsoft is, lets say Apple, then would they have not been like what Microsoft is? The goal of every business is to maximise profits & they know that they can do that more by terminating the competition. That’s what every business tries to do, drive competition out. So, I don’t see any wrong in Microsoft doing that.
The softwares that come bundled with Linux & Mac are free softwares in public domain. Microsoft too can include them with windows but the thing is that most people just don’t like their OS installation to span more than 1 CD. I really hate it when to install Linux, I’ve to pop-in 3-4 CDs even when I’m not installing any additional software. Also, they are not bound to give any free software with their OS. If they give, then its better, if they don’t give then the world won’t stop using their OS.
Also, even if you are not able to un-install Windows Media Player, just tell me why does it matter. You can install other media player software & use that, leave the Windows Media Player aside. It won’t bother you.
How does this act of theirs protect people’s privacy online? Perhaps I overlooked the issue & would very much appreciate it if you can enlighten me. 🙄
As for EU government not kissing big corporation’s butts, well they sure are kissing small ones. Or how would you justify this decision being sponsored by RealNetworks?
And you are so glad about people getting a choice. Let me tell you this. The reports that I read on this case, now & earlier, stated that the computer vendors will decide what version of Windows they ship. So if you are buying from Dell & they decide that they want Windows Media Player in Windows installed on their computers, you don’t have a say in that. You will get what they’ll decide. So, just tell me how the heck you have a choice? No my dear, you don’t have a choice, the computer vendors have it. 😀
The EU decided that it would be anti-competitive that Media Player was bundled with windows, for other distributors of Media Player software, like RealPlayer. That’s much different from Samba being distributed with Red Hat – one because there is no profit motive (so nobody loses anything) and two because Linux Distros do not add software for commercial reasons – Debian, for example, will only add software with less than X bugs, and if that happens to be Samba then so be it.
Things are different when money is involved.
Really?? Nah, I don’t think so. The profit motive is only there for RealNetworks as they sell their media player, not for Microsoft who are giving it away for free. 🙂
Who said that competition is there only when there is any profit(monetary) motive? 😯 Would you say that there was no competition between WordPress & MovableType? Yes there was & its still there, both want to be the market leaders. So if automatic script installers like Fantastico come packaged with WordPress, SixApart(who develop MovableType) should file a case against Fantastico as its killing competition, no? 🙄 This is ridiculous & totally un-justified. What EU should have directed Microsoft to do is to provide instructions in the Manual on how to un-install Media Player, so those who are un-happy with it can get rid of it. But to completely remove it is just ridiculous. Tomorrow some one like EditPlus etc. might complain that Windows should ship without Notepad as its killing competition. 🙄
The competition is not killed because Media Player comes bundled with Windows, but because RealPlayer has no chance as people are getting a superior product(Windows Media Player) for free without any effort of obtaining & installing it. So no one with a sane mind will buy RealPlayer.