Very Interesting and cool.
Ninety-five percent of the users downloading QuickTime installation software from Apple's Web site are PC users, said Casanova, so the company's media architecture is already very well represented on the Windows platform.Oh bull shit. I doubt that percentage. Even more I doubt the fact that QuickTime is well represented on the Windows platform. Now I could be wrong but the PC users I know, and the PC users I converse with on various forums on the web don't really like QuickTime. It isn't because they like Windows Media Player or RealOne Media Player, its because QuickTime = Apple and some people still cannot seem to get over that fact. It is like Apple is still the enemy, even though the QuickTime architecture is much more robust then WMP or RM. Folks know that too, but QuickTime still equals Apple. Of Course I could be wrong here. But from my experience Windows users are apprehensive of the QuickTime platform. It is a shame, but this is what I have seen. Of course that 95% Windows downloads could be because Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X has QuickTime built in :-P. Link via MacCentral.
Comments (6)
Quicktime on windows IS sh!t though. I don't know how it fares on a mac in comparison, but it's really slow and badly ported for windows, I do like the browser integration though.
also (to my knowledge) there isn't any way to actually *produce* quick time on windows is there?
Posted by SPeedY_B | August 1, 2003 1:56 PM
Posted on August 1, 2003 13:56
As a developer, I thought I would add my 2 cents...
The QuickTime API sucks! However, it's the only real choice for developing cross-platform media applications in Java.
As a general media player, I find it to be pretty good looking.
When I install Windows, I install QT and WMP. I stay as far away from Real as possible. My wife installs it to listen to her baseball games, however, I have told her to keep it off of my personal computer.
As to the download rate, yes, I agree that since Mac users don't have to download QT from the website, that is why the download rate is skewed to the Windows side. However, you have to remember that Mac's make up about 5% of all computer users.
Posted by Dave | August 3, 2003 1:40 PM
Posted on August 3, 2003 13:40
I'm a windows user and really like quicktime. I never use quicktime, however. The reason is that .mov files are such an obscure format in the PC world. The compression is better than most .mpg compression engines that are out there and the quality is pretty good (although some of the lower quality quicktime videos that I've seen have some pretty goofy pixelation going on).
I'd use quicktime more (possibly stop encoding video in mpeg, even) if it were more widely accepted by windows users.
As for the download statistics- isn't a Quicktime player included in Mac OS? Why the heck would Mac users need to download something they already have? It's us Windows folks who don't have it and need it that are downloading it!
Posted by John Gilman | August 4, 2003 1:59 AM
Posted on August 4, 2003 01:59
When I look at a movie on the net. It's typically in one of 3 formats. Windows Media Player, Quicktime, or Real. Of those three, Real seems to be the least used. WMP and QT are the most common. I have yet to see MPEG as a choice on those lists.
The funny thing is that MPEG is played by QT. So QT does double duty.
P.S. I should ammend my previous comment by saying that the QuickTime API in Java sucks! The C API is probably fine.
Posted by Dave | August 4, 2003 9:19 AM
Posted on August 4, 2003 09:19
I'm willing to bet you're right on this: "Of course that 95% Windows downloads could be because Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X has QuickTime built in". Why would Apple users download something they already have? It'd be like people who have the Acrobat Full Version downloading the Reader software, or Windows users downloading the full version of MSIE. We just download patch upon patch upon patch, instead ;)
Posted by Jake Ortman | August 4, 2003 9:54 PM
Posted on August 4, 2003 21:54
While I agree that those download statistics seem ... exaggerated, most of the Windows PCs I happen upon in my work and personal life (at multiple companies and in multiple contexts) seem to have Quicktime for Windows installed on them, if only so people can view movie previews which are still predominately available in QT format.
Posted by Ron | August 6, 2003 5:52 PM
Posted on August 6, 2003 17:52