WMP and Messenger

[GDW]

Can someone enlighten me as to why WMP and Messenger receives such bad press by MS XP users. I read in a number of threads that its recommended to uninstall them both and use third party apps instead.

I use both WMP and Messenger and cannot fault either. Ive never used any other sort of MP3 player so i cant really compare. I use DIVX 5 for video etc but tbh on playback WMP appears to be as good.

As for messenger I never get spammed and find it superior to the older versions of ICQ which I used to use.

 

[(Shovel)]

Media Player gets bad press cause it has been shown to phone home, so it gets branded in with the rest of the spy-ware crowd.

Messenger: I don't know really. Again, maybe it phones home (though if it does, it doesn't do it through any other server, since Outpost hasn't reported it trying to connect to anything other than login.msn...

MSN, frankly, isn't a full featured as ICQ used to be, it's just that ICQ went to pot UI wise.

To be honest, in using them, neither are bad pieces of software, so many people may just be bashing them for sake of it.

 

[Jonty]

The vas majority of all bad press surrounding Windows Media Player and Windows or MSN Messenger is born solely out of a dislike for Microsoft, it's as simple as that. Removing all such comments, and you'll find that criticisms of both applications are minor.

With regards Windows Media Player, the latest 9 Series version is largely ackowledged as a very good, all-in-one, application. Some people prefer WinAMP for audio because of the greater customisation it permits, and obviously WMP9 is limited in terms of the codecs it supports, thus people still use third-party players for DivX, Real and QuickTime media. However, attacking the suite itself is quite hard, since it is a good package. Furthermore, the latest 9 Series formats (Windows Media Audio (.wma) and Windows Media Video (.wmv)) are both highly sophisticated, and offer distinct advantages to consumers and developers alike.

With regards MSN/Windows Messenger, again, the application is simple and efficient. Part of the reason people dislike ICQ is because of the unnecessary bloat associated with the old program (ICQ Lite withstanding). Having been fortunate enough to beta test MSN Messenger Six, and can confirm that it really rocks There are many new features which are genuinely worthwhile, and I am genuinely impressed with Microsoft (that said, you still can't rename your contacts ).

One thing you have to remember is that Microsoft has an extremist element who hate, and I don't use that word lightly, everything to do with them, regardless of the truth. Microsoft are no angels, but you always have to bare in mind people's partisanship when it comes to their products. When it comes to WMP9 and Messenger, they are two good products. Sure, they're not perfect, and they have their faults and vulnerabilities as (Shovel) kindly highlights, but for the average user who wants their computer to Just Work™, they're perfectly adequate.

At the end of the day, always make up your own mind. Everyone, whether subconciously or not, has their own agenda and opinions. At the end of day, if you like the applications, then use them. Personally speaking, I agree with you, they're cool

Kind Regards

 

[Miles_Binck]

I can't comment on WMP as I never use it

but the new version of MSN (version 6) is pretty damn good. I like a lot of other people skipped v5 as it was filled with numerous amounts of crap, but having just 'acquired' v6 beta I've found it very similar to MSN/Windows Messenger 4.x with the added ability to log your chat messages + some other nice features. The only problem with that is that it removes the need for Messenger Plus

 

[Jonty]

Hello again

I agree, MSN Messenger v6 is cool, as Miles says. The XML chat logging is very handy indeed, and I love the fact you can create your own emoticons (the bottom row are all mine).

Sadly, as you say, MSN Plus! is now somewhat defunct, as Microsoft chose to prevent such close integration in MSN Messenger 6. It's a shame, as MSN Plus! had some nice features, only a fraction of which MSN Messenger 6 now offers. However, it seems the recent scare surrounding adware/spyware in the new MSN Plus! is yet another nail in its coffin

Kind Regards

 

[Jonty]

Hi guys

Just a quick post to say that the MSN Messenger 6 Public Preview (effectively a beta, but stable and fairly, if not completely, feature complete) will be released at 7pm BST / 8pm CET (thanks TdC ) and will be available to download from this page.

The leaked, internal beta has already been downloaded over two million times according to a recent Microsoft memo, and indicates the high demand for this product. As NeoWin kindly point out, the service as a whole has over 100M unique users, 46M of whom login everyday.

For those wondering about Windows Messenger, v5 of the product is currently in production, but will be aimed squarely at business and enterprise users, even though v4 was bundled with Windows XP. But don't worry, you won't be missing out on anything by using MSN Messenger 6

Kind Regards

 

[nath]

I don't use the ICQ clones, so can't comment on Messenger, but I HATE wmp7+. In my experience they're so unnecessarily bulky. There's so much crap there that I would like to turn off, and can't. So at the end of the day, I assign all my media file associations to mplayer2.exe (Media Player 6.4). It's the nuts. It'll play everything (apart from wmv stuff), and it's just a box, with play, stop, and a progress bar. What more do you need, it's the media you want to pay attention to, not the crappy overly glitzy player.

I've never seen a reason to move away from 6.4 tbh.

 

[TheJkWhoSaysNi]

For MP3's I use Winamp, I would use media player but I found it hard to create a playlist. Seemed to take ages just to add a song (Whereas in winamp i can just go to add>folder and it will add every song in my music folder.) As for MSN Messenger I dont use it, I use trillian Which IMO is the best messenger around.

 

[Jonty]

Surely you can't play WMP9 Series files on the old mplayer2, can you nath? I know what you mean about the not-so-optional accessories in the Windows Media Player series, though That said, the WMP9 Series format is proving really quite popular (take the Halo2 movie, ~nine minutes of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, 640x480 footage, and still a relatively small file size; or the new high-definition version of Terminator 2, which is 3.5x the quality of a DVD). As for playlists, TheJkWhoSaysNi, WMP9 thankfully sorts out a lot of the previous problems, and creating playlists is very easy now. That said, there are almost too many ways of sorting them, so it's still far from perfect.

As for Trillian, I splashed out and bought the Pro version a while back, and it's really cool (although not everyone likes it, it has to be said). It's just handy to be able to chat with people from all the different networks without having to use separate clients. Nevertheless, MSN Messenger 6 is really quite good, so I use that alongside Trillian nowadays (which somewhat defeats the point of having an all-in-one messenger ).

Kind Regards

 

[nath]

Like I said Jonty, you can't play WMV stuff on 6.4, but I rarely get that sorta file anyway.

What's this new terminator 2 thing you're talking about though?

 

[Jonty]

Ah, okay. But like you say, you're happy, so that's what counts

As for T2, it's (yet another) new release called "Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Extreme Edition)". According to this Microsoft page . . .

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Extreme Edition) is a two-disc DVD set that will feature a digitally remastered theatrical version of the film in high-definition video and full surround sound on a single DVD-ROM using Windows Media 9 Series. The cutting-edge high-definition "T2: Extreme DVD" will offer consumers using today's powerful Windows XP-based computers nearly three and a half times the resolution of standard DVD video, and will include previously unseen extras.

However I've just stopped, read, and laughed at the system requirements needed to play the high-definition footage . . .

Windows® XP
3GHz CPU (for playback of Windows Media version of film)
1600x1200, 1920x1080 or higher Screen Resolution
24 Bit 96 KHz Multichannel Sound Card
512 MB RAM
128 MB/3D Video Card

I knew WMP9 Series' High Definition format was a future technology, but those requirements are insane! hehe. Thankfully there's also the 'normal' version included too, which can be played as per usual.

Kind Regards

 

[nath]

Yeah but it means playing it on a monitor (which sucks) unless you have a tv out card (which is a pain in the arse) on a dodgy sound system (no matter how great your audigy is, it's not going to compete with a decent surround amp/speakers).

I'd be quite interested to see what it looks like, though.

 

[Sibanac]

personaly i dont use WMP because of all its build in DRM and phone home buisness

 

[nath]

Can basic firewalls not stop that then?

 

[Jonty]

Any firewall, depending on the configuration, should be able to stop WMP from accessing the Internet and thus 'phoning home'. Sadly, depending on how you view it, WMP9 is highly integrated with the Internet. It can download the latest media information, download codecs, give access to Windowsmedia.com and thus thousands of media files, all of this through the program itself. However, differentiating between this Internet activity and the other is very hard.

Personally, I feel a lot of these phoning home concerns are overrated. Even when you participate in Microsoft's scheme to send anonymous usage statistics, the information being sent and received couldn't be traced back without a serious amount of effort, and even then it's doubtful anyone would bother. What most people fear is that they'll end up getting penalised for doing something illegal, be it running certain copies of software, sharing copyright protected media etc. I'm in no position to say what's right and what's wrong, but always bear in mind that some people are concerned with privacy because of their own activities.

Kind Regards

 

[nath]

I'm never worried about that, I know MS would never do anything with it. I just dislike the idea of being out of control of the stuff it's sending.

It's like the whole ID card debate, a lot of peoples attitude is "hey, I've got nothing to hide so it doesn't bother me!". Privacy isn't always about knowing you're safe in doing illegal things, it's about feeling secure etc.

 

[Jonty]

Very true, nath. Very true

 

[xane]

I don't use WMP due to the "phone home" concerns, this has nothing to do with privacy however, more that I don't want the damn thing phoning home when I need the bandwidth for something else. When I'm in a gigantic space battle in EVE I don't fancy WMP deciding now is the time to update itself with a 9MB patch.

I frequently play media files whilst browsing, downloading and playing online games, WinAMP is fine and there are quite a few free third-party video media players that handle all the formats. The best feature of WinAMP I use is the "window blind" mode, where only a sliver of it appears, great for using with other programs without getting in the way, no like WMPs "smegging great big cluttered" mode that needs 2 monitors to display properly.

Messenger is similar, keeps on popping up when you least expect it, when you run Outlook Express, when you go to certain webpages, and always seems to reset to "auto run on start" when it updates itself. The only sure way to make it stop is to uninstall.

 

[Jonty]

hehe, although a little overstated, I know what you mean xane On a side note, I have a really simple, completely safe registry key which prevents Windows Messenger starting when Outlook Express (and probably Outlook too) is launched (direct from a MS employee). Just post here if anyone wants it.

Kind Regards

 

[nath]

Originally posted by xane
The only sure way to make it stop is to uninstall.

Which you can't do in windows XP without getting some dodgy software to do it. It's rediculous.

Oh and I hate the fact that it opens automatically with outlook, no matter how much you don't want it to.

Thing is, MS can be very good at what they do. I've seen some of the mor business orientated side of there software, it seems pretty good on the whole, but some of the stuff they do is so obnoxiously intrusive. Sure, it's ok putting that stuff there so the not so competent users can think "oo that's nice and handy", but not having an option to turn it off is just lame.

 

[xane]

I didn't install XP until SP1 was out, you can uninstall Messenger and WMP then.

 

[nath]

Oh sp1 lets you do that? Super smashing.

 

[Jonty]

Sadly the uninstall options present in Windows XP SP1 just remove the links from the start menu (hehe, I kid you not). Microsoft do have support pages, however, detailing how to go beyond that superficial level of uninstallation, though.

Kind Regards

 

[Jonty]

Hi guys

If you go here very quickly you can beat the queues and download MSN Messenger 6 before it gets too busy

Kind Regards

 

[Embattle]

I've never really liked Winamp, I do like WMP but DRM etc always make sure it gets bad press.

 

[Jonty]

Originally posted by Embattle
... but DRM etc always make sure it gets bad press.

True I was reading a few months back that Microsoft are preparing a clear strategy to promote digital rights management. Should be interesting, whatever happens

Kind Regards

 

[PR.]

The best way to uninstall MSN Messnger is to go into the program folder and rename the exe file. Thats what I do, it does trigger any problems just pops up an error in event viewer if a program tries to open it