Re: [ARSCLIST] RealNetworks -- a horrid format from a horrible company

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> OK, now it's time for a short rant, one user's viewpoint. Archivists, please
avoid using this awful
> format for your public-available content.
>
> My favorite over-Internet radio show, Riverwalk Jazz, had a bonus thing -- 
excerpts from a 1973 WRVR
> interview with John Hammond:
> http://tinyurl.com/yd6s2e
>
> Unfortunately, no playback options except RealAudio. I smelled trouble
immediately. Real player
> launches and
> demands to be updated. No playing the clips unless it updates. OK, sigh, now I
know there's trouble
> coming.
>
> Download takes 5 minutes. Install takes another 5 minutes. Then the
post-install process, where Real
> shows itself as the most goniff-y, classless company out there. I think all
websites should be
> strong told by their users and patrons not to use this format. I always send
messages to webmasters
> because I feel that Real is truly
> a horrible company.
>
> You have to UNSELECT all the formats you don't want Real to take over. Instead
of telling it what to
> do, you have to take 5-10 minutes of CAREFULLY telling it what NOT to do, or
you'll find that Real
> takes over all audio and video formats -- and throws its bloated player and
ads all over your
> computer. Plus, you have to go into buried menus to turn off auto-update, and
if you don't register
> it under a fake e-mail, they will spam you whether you uncheck all the spam
options or not. HATEFUL!
>
> Oh, and they also default select the pay-to-use player on the install, so if
you don't pay attention
> they'll be asking for credit card info. Yeah, over my dead body! And these
goniffs sued Microsoft
> over alleged "monopoly" issues! At least Microsoft provides a player as part
of the OS on 95% of
> desktops, not as some bloated, ad-laden, invasive, spamming option.
>
> I sent a very strong e-mail to my friends at Riverwalk about using this
format. Real should be
> driven out of business or forced to change their spamming/invasive/toxicware
ways.
>
> By the way, Quicktime is the same kind of setup -- you have to carefully go
thru several steps or it
> will also take over all your media formats. Big strike against Apple on that.
Also, Quicktime used
> to be toxic to some Windows computers, although that's improved in recent
versions. But I wouldn't
> have Quicktime on any of my computers if it wasn't required for iTunes.
>
The trick is (in Wintel) to use File Association (in Windows Explorer,
the file-viewing accessory) to restore your old associations (or change
them?). I have no idea how/if a Mac equivalent exists...

And it should also be noted that most programs do their best to take
over a computer once installed on it...I had to manually convince my
machine that I wanted dBASE to open its own files, not MS Access!

Steven C. Barr