I saw a similar article too. Funny thing is that it was not even a week ago I posted about it becoming open source. How quick the tide turns.
I still use Winamp. It's a bit slow loading but still does a good job. I wonder how many more windows updates it will take to kill it.
That article contains a phrase that the owners of Winamp showed "a profound misunderstanding of the concept and philosophy around which open source is built".
Maybe. I didn't have a chance to look at the source code, so I couldn't see if it was poorly written, poorly documented and riddled with bugs.
I suspect it wasn't, as Winamp worked in the past, it works well today, and I still choose to use it over much more recent and vaunted software.
I mean, there are only so many ways to use a music player. If it plays the music format you want, that's most of them. Winamp contains an amazing amount of functionality in addition to that, and there are numerous plugins. You may want more, but how much more do you really need?
Anyone recall the story on mp3? Something about 10 or 15 years ago the mp3 format became open source. I was a little obsessed in DWJukebox for awhile. It was so customizable and I designed several skins and implemented features no one else had done..
But anyway, that's why I recall about mp3 going open source. Because DWzJukebox was free software but he said he couldnt licence it for commercial use due to some kind of licensing involved with mp3s..
When mp3 format became free that would have enabled DWJukebox to become marketable. But he said his software was now over 20 years old and he didnt think it marketable any more.. I can see is reasoning, but it's still a great jukebox software.
Wow, I wandered off from topic didn't I?
Winamp ain't dead. It's just not open source - but apparently it was for a week.