Democracy Player Is Dead, Long Live Miro

MrSpin writes "Democracy Player has relaunched today as Miro. Developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation, Miro aims to make online video "as easy as watching TV", while at the same time ensuring that the new medium remains accessible to everyone, through its support for open standards. The open-source application combines a media player and library, content guide, video search engine, as well as podcast and BitTorrent clients. But why the name change? According to last100, who have published a full review and guide to Miro: "When Democracy Player launched back in February 2006, the feedback received was that the name evoked different, yet equally negative responses. For many Americans it conjured up an image of yet another left wing media project, and to the rest of the world it was, rather bizarrely, being associated with the policies of the Bush administration. In contrast, the new name is purposely abstract.""

Abstract?

[MarcoG42]

I wouldn't call the name abstract, as miro is Spanish for "I watch." Seems perfectly suitable to me.

Re:Creepy

[hey]

Partly/Mostly our president's fault. By bringing "democracy" to Iraq. Who would want that kind of "democracy" on their desktop!

Re:Any reason to switch from VLC or BS?

[ringfinger]

According to the article, Miro's content guide is one of it's strengths -- making it more than just a player.

Miro's content guide is far better than the equivalent video podcast directory in iTunes. Not only does Miro list over 1,500 channels but it's also better organized, with content filtered by popularity, editor picks, genre, tags, and language. There's even a section dedicated to HD video.

Still, I have a hard time imagining how a good content buide is better than having google seaarch behind it when looking for content (as youtube does).

Re:What's in a name?

[cs668]

Mist is slang for manure or sh*t. But, it is often used for a device that does not work like the English phrase "what a piece of sh*t"

Re:What is funny...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that "miro" in French means someone who has very low vision.

what? i am french canadian and i've never heard what the heck you're talking about.

unless it's slang from france, but you really should elaborate.

Re:Any reason to switch from VLC or BS?

[HomerNet]

Yes, actually, it is different. Whether you like iTunes or not would be a good indicator of whether you'll like Democracy/Miro. If VLC were like WinAmp, Democracy/Miro would be iTunes. It's a way of managing the videos you want to watch.

In terms o feature-ness, Miro allows you to create playlists, automatic watch lists, and integrates video searches from Google, Yahoo, and a couple others. It's also a bittorrent client for videos, though admittedly I haven't figured out how to use that feature. One thing about Miro that I like is that if I have a bunch of videos I want to watch (say, I haven't watched The HowTo Crew for several episodes) and they're on my auto-update lists, they'll be downloaded to my computer instead of being on the 'net, so I can watch them whether I have a connection or not. Also, the full-screen mode is priceless.

On the downside, it IS bloated, and to autoupdate you have to have the bloated player running at all times. I tend to not get regular updates because I don't like bloatware running in the background.

And in Japanese...

[Rocketship Underpant]

In Japanese, "miro" (or the closest phonetic equivalent) is the imperative form of "look", so it works there too.

Re:Accurate name?

[lawpoop]

Except the leaders of left wing movements are almost never working or middle class...Teddy Kennedy, John Edwards, John Kerry.

You're claiming that John Edwards isn't middle class? He's from a solid working class childhood. Wikipedia says [wikipedia.org]:

Edwards was born on June 10, 1953 to Wallace Reid Edwards and Catharine Juanita "Bobbie" Wade in Seneca, South Carolina. The family moved several times during Edwards' childhood, eventually settling in Robbins, North Carolina, where his father worked as a textile mill floor worker, eventually promoted to supervisor; his mother worked as a postal letter carrier when his father left his job.[2] Edwards was the first person in his family to attend college. He first attended Clemson University and later transferred to North Carolina State University. Edwards graduated with a bachelor's degree in textile technology in 1974 from North Carolina State University, and later earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), both with honors.

Anyways, the democrat politicians you mention aren't leaders in the sense you are talking about. Left-wingers don't go and do whatever they say. They are more like public servants.

If you check the political opinions of the working and middle class you usually find that they tend to be more conservative.

That's not true. There is a broad spectrum of political opinion in the working and middle class. Working and middle class people might be more socially conservative, but they are often more economically liberal. This is called populism [wikipedia.org].

Re:Judged by who you friends are

[Chandon Seldon]

The highest estimate for civilian deaths in Iraq that I've heard is 600,000. If we consider the existence of the war in Afganistan, that implies that we *could* get to an estimate 1,000,000 using the method you describe.