VLC For Windows 8 Reaches $65,000 Funding Goal On Kickstarter

An anonymous reader writes "A Metro version of VLC, the popular free and open-source media player, is coming to Windows 8. On Sunday, the VideoLAN organization reached its funding goal on Kickstarter for its Windows 8-specific app. There are also plans to port it afterwards to Windows Phone 8. The project has now been funded by over 2,500 backers, who have pledged more than the £40,000 ($65,000) goal."

Re:VLC

[Nerdfest]

... assuming Microsoft 'approves' it. Buying into a locked ecosystem is a mistake. It's rewarding a company for taking the ownership of your hardware away.

Re:Let Windows 8 Die

[LordLimecat]

Windows 8 is my new main OS at home. Im figuring it out, and less unhappy than I was when I first got it. But it is the least discoverable UI I have ever used; Ubuntu was oodles easier to use.

Re:VLC

[JWW]

Just wondering if that one asshole developer who blocked the client on iOS will block it for windows phone as well.

Re:65K?

[__Paul__]

Alternatively, it is the salary of a high-level programmer who is willing to take a pay-cut in order to avoid daily commuting, pair-programming, stand-up meetings, team-building weekends, unpaid overtime, Six Sigma, and all the other bullshit that comes with high-paying jobs in the corporate world.

Re:VLC

[girlintraining]

... assuming Microsoft 'approves' it. Buying into a locked ecosystem is a mistake. It's rewarding a company for taking the ownership of your hardware away.

Well, there's now $65,000 out there willing to test the waters. And the developers don't lose anything if it fails -- only the investors do. I'd guess a lot of that will be spent on the lawyer screwing about over patents... it might be the case that the only thing required is a few edits here and there to surgically transplant the UI. Porting an app usually costs a fraction of the original development cost. If portability was considered from the initial design, it might only require a few hours work to prep it for compiling on a different architecture. And it's open source; Projects that survive as long as VLC has do so because the programmers made it a goal to keep maintenance down. Release one bad app and you'll be supporting it for the rest of your life. :)

Re:VLC

[Eirenarch]

There is zero chance that MS will not improve it. They are desperate for apps and they approve total crap. They will not ban a quality app. Also the music player has nothing to do with selling music. The player is not related to the files you get from their service.

Re:New Kickstarter Idea

[Eirenarch]

Because of the freedom right? We should outbid the people who are willing to pay for the Win8/WP port and make them free by denying them free software.

Re:Let Windows 8 Die

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting. The more I use it the more unhappy I am with it. At first I thought it was a little wierd (the whole 2 UI thing) but I figured I would get used to it. I have gotten used to it but like it less and less every day as I discover another annoying and arbitrary design decision. I put classic shell, so I can't complain about lack of a Start menu, I have that. The latest thing that really bugs me is that there are settings buried both in the desktop Control Panel, and also in the "Metro" Settings->Change PC Settings. You just have to know which ones are at which location.

And for all the defenders out there, there is nothing I have not been able to figure out, even if it has required search or help. I've never had to resort to documentation (help or google) with a graphical UI. The lack of discoverability is going to piss off a lot of users. Even when they get used to it windows 8 will leave them with a bad taste in their mouth.

My recommendation to Microsoft - unify the split personality. Allow users to choose "Metro Style" or "Desktop Style" and stay entirely within that UI. I see no technical reason that Desktop apps could not run in a Metro window or metro apps run in a desktop window.

Re:Let Windows 8 Die

[LordLimecat]

I would love if they did that. My decreasing unhappiness is partly due to the performance improvements, and as I discover things I really dont like (the control panel crap you mentioned), theres other things I really like-- the new task manager, the new taskbar multimon support, and the improvements to caching.

as I discover another annoying and arbitrary design decision.

"Arbitrary" pretty much defines every single problem that Windows 8 has, actually. One wonders what sort of usability study ended up with this UI as the top pick on desktop.

Re:VLC

[elashish14]

The issue is not whether they will approve it or not. The issue is in the principle of acting as if the hardware vendor has the right to choose what software the user and proprietor chooses to run.

As developers, we should not be complicit this terrible precendent, and we should not contribute in any way to the positive health of this system.

Re:Let Windows 8 Die

[elashish14]

It has nothing to do with usability. They're leveraging their monopoly on the desktop OEMs (again) to push their mobile platform. It's a business decision, not a user decision. If they wanted to make it usable, they're disable the tablet mode interface.

Re:New Kickstarter Idea

[kestasjk]

If you don't like it don't use it. (But you will, of course, eventually. And once you've accepted the change you'll like it. As always.)

Re:VLC

[SilenceBE]

I was always under the impression his reasoning had to do with his irrational hatred agains iDevice users. When you explain your actions with "I don't care for iDevice users" there isn't much room for discussion.

Now when looking at his resume which is plasterd with Nokia adventures, I have the feeling it has a lot more to do with butthurt and frustration regarding the downfall of Nokia.

The whole freedom, fsf, whatever claim seems also weird for somebody that mentions different software patents on his resume. I find it kind of hypocritical for somebod with high freedom morals.

Seeing his works relations with Nokia I want to bet on it, nithing will happen. That ks typical for such kind of people.

Re:Wrong

[penix1]

Let's go back to the grandparent:

Is that something easy for the average user?

Now let's list those steps again:

1. Admin Powershell prompt (easily available even on Windows RT).
2. Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenceRegistration (yes, this is a PS command. Try "show-wi" + [TAB])
3. Enter Windows Live credentials. They don't have to be the ones you sign in with (in fact, you don't have to be using Windows Live signin at all), and the don't have to be associated with a developer account in any way. In fact, they can be for a throw-away account.
4. Download an APPX package and run its install script. Congrats, sideloading achieved.

The status of the "developer registration" will need to be periodically refreshed, as by default it expires after a month. However, it costs nothing except a trivial amount of time, and you can refresh it repeatedly.

Doesn't look to me like something the "average user" (read Joe Sixpack) can do to me.... Besides, I thought Microsoft hated the command line given their proclivity to denigrate its use in Linux.