5 ms·

Some context: Winamp's owners have been going through financial difficulties since last year and as a result have laid off the skeleton crew they previously had

by ndiddy 2y ago

Some context: Winamp's owners have been going through financial difficulties since last year and as a result have laid off the skeleton crew they previously had maintaining Winamp (their main focus seems to be a streaming service also called Winamp for HTML5 and phones). This looks like they're willing to let the community take over maintenance for PC Winamp, which beats letting it die IMO. https://forums.winamp.com/forum/winamp/winamp-site-design/4620943-winamp-windows-desktop-version-download-directory-on-server#post4621013 https://forums.winamp.com/forum/winamp/winamp-site-design/46...

peppertree 2y ago
Still waiting on KaZaA open source. Kids these days don't know what it's like trying to download a music video and end up watching someone getting beheaded.
- esotericimpl 2y ago
  [dead]
- zztop44 2y ago
  I’m pretty sure kids these days do know exactly what that’s like (although they wouldn’t be downloading the music video and it wouldn’t have taken over an hour for a shitty 2.3mb file)
- wrigby 2y ago
  I realize this is a joke, but can’t resist mentioning that LimeWire was (is?) open source (or at least used an open network in GnuTella)
  - mrmincent 2y ago
    And funnily enough, gnutella being a creation of Justin Frankel, the creator of Winamp as well.
- giancarlostoro 2y ago
  Or downloading Windows XP.ISO and booting up Ubuntu. 15 year old me was confused and enraged.
  - nehal3m 2y ago
    Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, l33tness.
    - sexy_seedbox 2y ago
      So br00tal
- niutech 2y ago
  There are open source clients for FastTrack protocol based on giFT (https://sourceforge.net/projects/gift/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/gift/): Apollon (https://apollon.sourceforge.net https://apollon.sourceforge.net) and KCeasy (http://www.kceasy.com http://www.kceasy.com).
RevEng 2y ago
I really appreciate them doing this. I wish more companies would release their source - even as is - if they are dissolving the corporation anyway.
larodi 2y ago
Why does a company has to go bankrupt to open source? It’s like something that owners want to do in order to be able to fork, not something that is being done for the community or open side of it.
- cortesoft 2y ago
  Well, their business model was selling the software… it is harder to do that if it is open source. Once you are going bankrupt, you are going to lose the asset anyway, so there is no incentive to keep it closed source. Is it really that hard to figure out why a company open sources when going bankrupt?
  - talldatethrow 2y ago
    Wouldn't the lenders be pissed you essentially gave away one of the valuable assets they could have sold off to someone else?
    - Rinzler89 2y ago
      Source code is not the main asset that makes the final product. Doom is also open source but if you compile the source you won't get the game that's on the self. You still need the game assets for that and those are not open source, you need to buy the game to get those.
  - larodi 2y ago
    I understand this part, what I really meant is that it is a pity so much opens source is born as a Phoenix coming out of burned companies…
- Uehreka 2y ago
  I just got here from the “DoJ moves to legalize weed” comment section, and I have the same thing to say: I don’t care why people do a good thing, I’m uncomplicatedly happy it happened.
testernews 2y ago
that explains why i had such a terrible fucking time with their “creator” side, was supposed to have a rep, help setting up, promotion, etc and they didn’t do fuck all for a year and then tried to charge me for it a year later
- trogdor 2y ago
  Winamp has (/had) a creator side? I thought it was just a media player.

by ndiddy 2y ago

peppertree 2y ago

Still waiting on KaZaA open source. Kids these days don't know what it's like trying to download a music video and end up watching someone getting beheaded.

esotericimpl 2y ago
[dead]
zztop44 2y ago
I’m pretty sure kids these days do know exactly what that’s like (although they wouldn’t be downloading the music video and it wouldn’t have taken over an hour for a shitty 2.3mb file)
wrigby 2y ago
I realize this is a joke, but can’t resist mentioning that LimeWire was (is?) open source (or at least used an open network in GnuTella)
- mrmincent 2y ago
  And funnily enough, gnutella being a creation of Justin Frankel, the creator of Winamp as well.
giancarlostoro 2y ago
Or downloading Windows XP.ISO and booting up Ubuntu. 15 year old me was confused and enraged.
- nehal3m 2y ago
  Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, l33tness.
  - sexy_seedbox 2y ago
    So br00tal
niutech 2y ago
There are open source clients for FastTrack protocol based on giFT (https://sourceforge.net/projects/gift/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/gift/): Apollon (https://apollon.sourceforge.net https://apollon.sourceforge.net) and KCeasy (http://www.kceasy.com http://www.kceasy.com).

RevEng 2y ago

I really appreciate them doing this. I wish more companies would release their source - even as is - if they are dissolving the corporation anyway.

larodi 2y ago

Why does a company has to go bankrupt to open source? It’s like something that owners want to do in order to be able to fork, not something that is being done for the community or open side of it.

cortesoft 2y ago
Well, their business model was selling the software… it is harder to do that if it is open source. Once you are going bankrupt, you are going to lose the asset anyway, so there is no incentive to keep it closed source. Is it really that hard to figure out why a company open sources when going bankrupt?
- talldatethrow 2y ago
  Wouldn't the lenders be pissed you essentially gave away one of the valuable assets they could have sold off to someone else?
  - Rinzler89 2y ago
    Source code is not the main asset that makes the final product. Doom is also open source but if you compile the source you won't get the game that's on the self. You still need the game assets for that and those are not open source, you need to buy the game to get those.
- larodi 2y ago
  I understand this part, what I really meant is that it is a pity so much opens source is born as a Phoenix coming out of burned companies…
Uehreka 2y ago
I just got here from the “DoJ moves to legalize weed” comment section, and I have the same thing to say: I don’t care why people do a good thing, I’m uncomplicatedly happy it happened.

testernews 2y ago

that explains why i had such a terrible fucking time with their “creator” side, was supposed to have a rep, help setting up, promotion, etc and they didn’t do fuck all for a year and then tried to charge me for it a year later

trogdor 2y ago
Winamp has (/had) a creator side? I thought it was just a media player.