Disklavier

Good afternoon, everyone.

Spencer, I found your commentary on Windows VIsta to be very  
interesting. As you know, I am also a MIDI software developer (www.timewarptech.com 
).

Mostly we use Macs. However, we do develop for Windows and have to  
keep Windows machines around.

Not long ago my old Windows 98SE vintage computer died. I had  
previously turned it into a triple boot machine (98SE, 2000, XP). At  
this point, our development for Windows is focused on XP and Vista.  
So, I bought a Mac mini as a replacement. We made it into a triple  
boot machine (XP, Vista, Mac OS X Leopard).

The Mac mini works great as a Windows computer!

Regards,
PianoBench

www.georgelitterst.com
www.timewarptech.com


On May 14, 2008, at 3:33 PM, Spencer_Lists wrote:
> Greetings JORGE,
>
> I fiddled more with this last night. There are a couple of utilities  
> out there that offer to change the default MIDI player for wmplayer  
> and sites that suggest the registry setting that need to be changed.  
> I fiddled for quite a while and had no success. I have written some  
> programs that use the wmplayer and have been amazed at how  
> difficult, undocumented and unpredictable it is. It is the typical  
> microsoft pile of garbage in which they decide what the user wants  
> and provide even less than this.
>
> I wrote a simple "midi picker" that works on XP and will let you  
> change the default player so media player will output to your chosen  
> device. I tried to find the relevant registry settings to change in  
> Vista and gave up. Everything I have had to modify in vista to make  
> it just barely useable has taken hours and hours or days and some  
> things are still evading me and even Microsoft. Don't ask me about  
> the 17 hours I have spent on the phone with Microsoft trying to get  
> Vista to network with my XP machines.
>
> Vista plus MIDI plus media player is just too much Microsoft to have  
> a chance of working. The Vista online midi pickers i tried don't  
> work either.
>
> Media player is everywhere but it is useless for anything other than  
> what Microsoft wants you to do with it. Any other player that I have  
> tried is much better.
>
> I installed XP as a boot option on my new fast machine so I can boot  
> to XP if I need to run something that does not work on Vista.  
> However the computer manufacturer (HP) will not provide information  
> on some of the board resources and network adapters regarding XP  
> drivers. They are probably not even available so unless I rip the  
> machine apart and replace everything but the box, I am pretty much  
> stuck with Vista if I want all of the hardware to work.
>
> Bottom line: Stay as far away from Windows Media Player and Vista as  
> you possibly can unless your goal in life is to waste countless days  
> and increase your frustration.
>
> Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 10:56:22 AM, you wrote:
> > Thanks Jhon, I agree, as mather of fact some months ago I installed
> > Vista in my desktop, after a week I uninstalled it.
> > I still use XP in my powerfull desktop.
> >
> > I am trying to upgrade a very old and slow Pentiun IV I have in the
> > living room , connected to the DKV
> > (change it mainly for cosmetic reasons)
>
> > 2008/5/14 konaneil <konaneil@...>:
> > You could install XP for the time being. On your new machine, with  
> its
> > speed and memory, XP would run extremely well. This may sound odd  
> but
> > around 200,000 computer professionals have signed a petition
> > <http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/> requesting Microsoft not
> > discontinue XP at least until they have a stable release of Vista
> > working properly.
>
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Spencer_Lists Chase mailto:lists@...
> 67550 Bell Springs Rd.
> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
> Laytonville, CA 95454 UPS only.
> Spencer@...
> http://www.spencerserolls.com
> http://www.spencerserolls.com/MidiValve.htm
> (707) 984-8356