

VLC for the new Windows 8 User Experience fundraiser - feepk
http://www.videolan.org/press/win8ks.html

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albertzeyer
I think it is a nice idea to finance the development via Kickstarter.

I think this could become much more common for common big open source
projects, i.e. some particular interesting missing feature or redesign which
might need anyway some professional designer or so - financed by the
community. And if I am interested in the particular feature, I am also very
open to spend a bit money there.

Also, by doing separate campaigns for separate features/goals, you could see
where the user really is interested in. For example, in this particular
feature (a Win8 Metra GUI for VLC), I am not interested at all so I wont
really give any money there. But if it would be something which I would like
to have, I definitely would.

~~~
albertzeyer
Another thought, going even further: I would also very happy to work on many
other open source projects if I would be paid for.

Maybe there could be an open platform similar to Kickstarter but maybe the
users itself could suggest features and obligatory say how much money they
would spend. And developers would say on what things they would want to work
on. In the end, probably the project maintainers would then decide to start it
and select the developers for it.

Or alternatively: People would not determine the amount of money obligatory
but they would just say some amount. Developers would register for it. And
then the users again would decide for what developers (or maybe other external
needed resources) they would give how much money and if some constraints are
given, it can be made final. That way, the official project maintainers would
not have to maintain this work and many more random features on random open
source projects, maybe even abandoned ones could be implemented.

~~~
tantrix
Such a thing actually already exists! Take a look at BountySource:
<https://www.bountysource.com/>

As a backer you can put cash bounties on Github issues (other trackers to
come) and when a project committer accepts a pull request for that issue, the
developer gets paid.

On the flip side, we're about to launch Fundraisers, which is very similar to
the Kickstarter model: create a project spec and get it funded. We're building
specifically for open source, rather than a generic platform.

We'd love to hear your thoughts! (#bountysource on freenode)

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NathanKP
Direct link to the Kickstarter:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1061646928/vlc-for-
the-n...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1061646928/vlc-for-the-new-
windows-8-user-experience-metro)

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mrchess
I used VLC since I was a kid to watch my "backed-up" videos in the days where
codecs were rampant and confusing. Now that I have some income, it feels good
to give back. Here's to the next generation of VLC!

~~~
jiggy2011
I love VLC for that too, whenever I see someone farting around with WMP trying
to get something to play I always just link them to the VLC download page.
Haven't found a problem that this hasn't solved yet.

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isani
"VLC for Windows 8 might not be applicable for the store."

And that's a major problem. Without distribution on the Windows Store, this
thing isn't going to see any kind of mass adoption. I'd be wary about funding
until they work out whether their code and licenses pass the Store
certification requirements.

~~~
jbk
Well, we hope this is enough...
[http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/Windows-Store-and-
the-...](http://www.jbkempf.com/blog/post/2012/Windows-Store-and-the-GPL)

------
mortenjorck
I'm really glad they're looking to hire some design expertise, but I hope they
scope it right – graphic design will definitely help, but that UX is going to
have to be rethought as well if they want to truly take advantage of the
design language and make a great Win8 app.

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rmrfrmrf
If you'll remember, Rémi Denis-Courmont made such a big stink about keeping
VLC out of walled gardens that Apple was forced to remove it from the App
Store. So my question is: why does VLC suddenly WANT to be in a walled garden
now that Windows is following suit?

~~~
thresh
because VLC is not owned by Rémi Denis-Courmont, and not everyone agrees on
his move towards AppStore.

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PaulHoule
This is the first time I've funded a project on Kickstarter.

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aes256
1) It's 2012 and we still need third party software to watch videos? I
understand VLC does other stuff, but the reason most people use and install it
is just to watch videos;

2) This seems like an awful lot of money, not to mention the precedent it
sets, just to craft an interface for what is, ultimately, a transient 'design
language'. Metro is ugly and a UX nightmare. It will be replaced with
something completely new come the next Windows release, with inevitably
mediocre backwards compatibility.

~~~
NathanKP
With regard to point #1 I generally find VLC to be much more forgiving than
the generic video players built into Windows or Mac OS X. VLC will often play
damaged video files and all sorts of random, slightly corrupted files found on
file sharing sites, etc.

With regard to point #2 it is more than just a new interface look for VLC. It
will require extensive rewriting to work within the Windows sandbox using
appropriate security sandboxed API's to allow distribution through the Windows
Store. There is also the subsequent project to get it to work on ARM
architecture, which will be a challenging project due to the reliance on low
level C and assembler code.

~~~
aes256
1) Oh absolutely, I don't dispute VLC remains useful. I just think it's a
shame that we still need VLC. To most of its users, VLC is "that thing that my
friend told me I'd need to install to play these videos because for some
reason Windows can't play them on its own"

2) I'm more worried about the precedent this sets. Is VLC going to need new
cash injections every time Microsoft change the rules of the Windows Store, or
release updates to Windows 8 that break the app? As I say, the next major
release of Windows will undoubtedly break everything all over again.

It just strikes me as an awful lot of time, money and effort to build a
solution to a problem that really oughtn't to exist in this day and age...

~~~
wmf
_it's a shame that we still need VLC._

I agree, but the various "scenes" resolutely refuse to adopt industry
standards.

~~~
voltagex_
x264 isn't a standard?

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wmf
Nope, H.264 in Matroska is not a standard.

~~~
voltagex_
The TV scene people now use H.264 in MP4.

~~~
aes256
That's only for SD releases; HD still use the MKV container

