I especially like how Microsoft buried the “we don’t code WMV for Mac anymore” behind a 5 year commitment for, explicitly Office and one other app whose name I don’t remember, but I don’t think it was VPC (submit that one to the marketing folks for a laugh). So not only did they nail the coffin in an already dead product, and leave probability open for others, but they sent poor Margaret Ho (who is so uncomfortable up there it seems) onstage to run interference.
On the upside, while Flip4Mac does seem to have issues maintaining quality across I and B frames, and it causes Quicktime to crash every time you close a doc, it’s still much better than Microsoft’s option. As a note to Flip4Mac: don’t expect me to pay for the “pro” version until you can make a mildly stable playback engine.
...On the upside, while Flip4Mac does seem to have issues maintaining quality across I and B frames, and it causes Quicktime to crash every time you close a doc, it’s still much better than Microsoft’s option. As a note to Flip4Mac: don’t expect me to pay for the “pro” version until you can make a mildly stable playback engine.
Didn’t know that MS has purchased Flip4Mac.
Flip4Mac has never crashed QT on my machine here. However, I have also experienced trouble playing back some WMV coding schemes: QT didn’t crash, but only displayed a frame per second or so and distorted sound. Depending on whether MS actually continues development on Flip4Mac or silently kills it, these compatibility issues may actually be resolved easier. Anyway, it is by far better than the media player.
My understanding was not that Flip4Mac had been purchased, but that MS has come to a business arrangement with them. Also note, they introduced a new version coincidentally with this announcement. I’ve only tried it with WMV 9 standard content as of yet.
I especially like how Microsoft buried the “we don’t code WMV for Mac anymore” behind a 5 year commitment for, explicitly Office and one other app whose name I don’t remember, but I don’t think it was VPC (submit that one to the marketing folks for a laugh). So not only did they nail the coffin in an already dead product, and leave probability open for others, but they sent poor Margaret Ho (who is so uncomfortable up there it seems) onstage to run interference.
On the upside, while Flip4Mac does seem to have issues maintaining quality across I and B frames, and it causes Quicktime to crash every time you close a doc, it’s still much better than Microsoft’s option. As a note to Flip4Mac: don’t expect me to pay for the “pro” version until you can make a mildly stable playback engine.
5 years for Office vs. a Mac version of WMP? I’ll go with Office. QT is challenging WMP quite well since it’s stuck in every install of iTunes for Windows.
Poor Roz Ho. I think she’s been dining with Bambi.
Oh, and I read elsewhere from a Microsoft exec that Virtual PC will STILL be developed for the Mac. Apple chose Intel’s EFI method to boot (not supported yet on Windows XP) so it’ll be awhile before we see Windows and Mac on the same machine.
A friend of mine develops apps on Macs. Mostly backend database stuff in Filemaker, but he uses a Mac. He ‘bought’ (rented) one of the Intel boxes from last year’s Developer’s Conference. He says OS X for Intel runs fine on it. Now he gets to trade it back in and get a new iMac for Intel. Sweeeeet. Apple is finally treating developers as if they’re worth something. The quality of Mac applications in the past couple of years shows it’s paying off.
The Mac360 folks got together late Monday night via iChat and came up with our Top 10 List, which became Probable, Possible, and Impossible.
We could have flipped a coin. About 50-percent was all we could do.
I honestly thought Apple would start on the low end with Intel machines, but it makes sense now. I’d sure like to see lower prices on the next round of Macs to switch over.
I look for a very small laptop called “MacBook mini.” $699 with wireless.
Just installed version 2.0.1 of Flip4Mac. Worked so far with all clips I tested, even the problems I had with some encoding schemes are resolved. Just trashed Media Player.
5 years for Office vs. a Mac version of WMP? I’ll go with Office. QT is challenging WMP quite well since it’s stuck in every install of iTunes for Windows.
Not the end result so much as the trend and method that disturbed me.
Just installed version 2.0.1 of Flip4Mac. Worked so far with all clips I tested, even the problems I had with some encoding schemes are resolved. Just trashed Media Player.
Same here. I’ve trashed Windows Media Player and my Mac is officially Microsoft Free. And I feel good.
Flip4Mac has worked on just about everything I’ve thrown at it, too. No complaints. Gotta love the price.
The Mac360 folks got together late Monday night via iChat and came up with our Top 10 List, which became Probable, Possible, and Impossible.
We could have flipped a coin. About 50-percent was all we could do.
Click Here for the ugly details and compare how you did against our collective brain, experience, knowledge, and thoughtful guesses. Seriously, a blind chimpanzee using Ubuntu and eating bananas through a straw could do better than we did.
AppleInsider seemed to have the best look into the future of Macworld. Everyone else was making pizza with all the topics they could find and topics they wanted to find but weren’t available.
I doubt Apple will use Core Duo in the Mac Pro, unless maybe they quickly introduce a stopgap machine until Intel’s Core based workstation chips are released. For math intensive apps like Aperture and FCP I doubt a dual chip Core Duo machine would be able to keep up in many respects with the newest G5 towers. UI wise they will probably be snappier, however.
Brings up an interesting branding concern for Intel. What will they call Merom? Core II Solo and Core II Duo? Maintain the Core name and stop selling Yonah chips when Merom is released? Core+? UberCore?
