Re: Windows Vista Business N "Media Player"

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

Did some research on it and it turns out I was wrong. The "normal" version of
Vista Business is also available through the MSDNAA program, but for several
universities the N version was the first one that had keys available.
Apparantly the contact for MSDNAA at my university was not aware of this, so
I got told that it would be the only version available.

Noticed the media restore pack became available today, thanks a lot for
that, not having mediaplayer was not the nicest experience.

One off-topic question I'd like to ask though. The MSDNAA contact at my
university told me that the "N" in Windows Vista Business N stands for
"Neelie Kroes", the European Commissioner for Competition, who was pretty
much responsible for the whole affair that forced Microsoft to release the N
versions in the EU, but on the Microsoft website and newsgroups I get told it
stands for "No mediaplayer". Which one of the two is true?

Again thanks a lot for your answers and the release of the media restore
pack.

"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:


Could you please clarify with as much specifics as possible?

I suggested this to to the heads of the MSDN AA program, and was assured
that that was absolutely not the case.

So you and I both would love to drill down here and solev this. =)

--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--

"Jeffrey" <Jeffrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1C3348AE-1160-4566-935A-361141E1C726@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista Business N is the only version of Vista that is available in
the MSDN AA program. So, if your a student or a teacher at a university
that
is subscribed to the MSDN AA program, your stuck to that version.

"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:


I guarantee you that there is no current way for you to get Windows Media
Player 11 for Windows Vista "N" - you would need to not be using a "N"
SKU
at this time if you wanted Windows Media Player. The Media Restore Pack
is
*NOT* available at this time.

The fact that you got a "N" SKU when you did not want one is
mind-boggling
to me.

Windows Media Player for Vista "N" is not available at this time. It
should
be made available within the next couple months.

At this point, I would strongly encourage you to contact the vendor you
are
dealing with and get the correct software for your usage. If this is
some
sort of licensing program, that licensing program seems flawed.

I heartily support people who want to use the N SKU - people getting it
who
don't want it, though, doesn't make sense to me. =\

-Zach
--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
--

"Michael Rasmussen" <Michael Rasmussen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
in
message news:AB4E807B-68BA-4475-8274-B45F99FE25AF@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi.

I have the exact same problem my work has got a N version of vista.

I know all about the EU thingy. "no u cant bundle media player with
vista.
becours we say so"

But why isnt there a direkt link to a media player 11 download for
vista?

EU gives me the choice that i can choose media player... And i want the
media player 11. But i cant, or is just me that is looking the wrong
place?

~Michael , Denmark

"Yogiman!" wrote:

Hi

I am unable to give you anything more specific at present as I am
unable
to
obtain our details from the MVLS site, when I log in it says that
there
are
no agreements available at present. I contacted the original 3rd
party
supplier of the agreement on friday and they said they were having
trouble
activating our MVLS online account.

As soon as I am able to get this information I will post again. As
regards
to mis-labeled media, no I have checked the version of vista it says
with-in
the o/s it's self Business N and I have gone through the whole system
and
attempted to use WMV, WMA files and media player is nowhere to be
found
:)

Thanks for The replies so far.

Yogiman!

"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:


If you could give me as much information as possible about what
agreement
you have with what agency via what personnel, I'd like to understand
WTF
they're doing. It seems like they are providing you extremely poor
service,
so I'd like to follow up as possible.

The secondary mention was that there was a disc naming issue on some
CDs
sent to people that made them *think* they were running a "N"
system,
but in
fact WMP (wmplayer.exe) was actually on the system. I don't imagine
that's
your case, but it bears mentioning.

--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
--

"Yogiman!" <Yogiman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0E7422EB-5219-40DE-B8E6-15510BC4FE07@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi, Sorry this post makes no sense to me?

Yogiman!

"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:


As much specifics as is possible would be great. Somebody is
being
boneheaded here.

Note that there was some confusion about images called
n_blahblablah, but
those were not actually "N" images. If you're randomly getting
"N"
SKU
images, that seems like somebody somewhere is a little strange.

--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no
rights.
--

"Yogiman!" <Yogiman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0C686D83-0250-4885-B8C6-2FAD02FE5545@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi our disks were sent out by Microsoft themselves! What can I
say!

Cheers

Yogiman!

"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:


Which educiation licensing agreement? I can't think of why
you'd
be
getting
N. It doesn't make sense - something is missing in this
story.

If lots of people are getting "N" and not wanting "N", that
appears to
be
fairly "not the best plan" and probably should be corrected
back
at
that
errant source.

The whole point of N is to Not include WMP. That's all EU N
SKU
design
stuff and stuff that I wouldn't touch those discussions with a
ten
foot
pole. Make it work right - that's the goal. The MRP simply
isn't
available
right now. The fact that you're being sold N when wanting a
regular
SKU
is
utterly bizarre to me, and I think somebody is taking
advantage
here....
?

-Zach
--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers
no
rights.
--
"Yogiman!" <Yogiman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message
news:2D434D9F-90DA-432D-9A4B-894D92AF4B07@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi to both of you, and thanks for replying.

We are signed up for the educational licensing agreement,
microsoft
supply
us with the products we need and are entitled to as an
educational
establishment. Our 3rd party supplier has checked it out and
apparently
we
are on the correct licence.

I have searched around for the "Media Restore Pack" you are
correct
no
mention of it in any download area.

Your correct there is massive confusion about this and it
would
appear
lots
of unhappy people.

Personally I have had to remove Vista and re-install Windows
XP, I
really
don't want multiple 3rd party media players on my computer,
other
people
may
like that and of course that is their choice but personally
I
like
to
keep
my
machine as streamlined as possible so multiple media player
solutions
are
not
the answer. I do this that if MS are just following the
rules
applied
by
a
legal ruleling it would have been far better to just have an
option
to
install or not install media player when your are installing
Windows
Vista!
That may be a simple solution and perhaps I am not looking
at
the
bigger
picture. However if MS have done this so that if you want
media
tools
you
have to purchase a more expensive alternative solution then
thats
just
tight!
I have 13,400 WMV files and around 600 WMV files which if
installing
VISTA
I
can find no single solution to deal with it.

Here's an Idea MS knock up a quick web page and have me
click a
button
and
charge me £20 to install media player under a different
name!
That
way
I
won't have to kick MS into touch, convert all my WMA,WMV
files
into
.

Quantcast