Windows does *not* feature extensive codec support!

Windows does *not* feature extensive codec support!

Posted Apr 10, 2008 12:50 UTC (Thu) by DonDiego (subscriber, #24141)
Parent article: Video forums for free software

Users of non-free operating systems are largely unaware of the video codec problems; their OS comes with a no-extra-cost video viewer that just works.

It seems you haven't used Windows for any serious stretch of time during the last decade. Windows users have to go hunting high and low for different codec packs and players and end up installing a dozen different ones. Contrast this with the capabilities of programs like MPlayer or VLC that support all relevant multimedia formats out of the box and the obscure ones with the help of exactly one codec package.

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Hear, hear!

To rub it in, no generic Windows includes Flash support, so to use the "gold standard" the
user has to be persuaded to download a plugin. I don't see why the proposed Video site can't
do the same and entice the user to install a plugin for the codec of choice.

> Contrast this with the capabilities of programs like MPlayer or VLC [...]

Which are available for Windows (as you know). I recommend VLC to all afflicted.