<< doesn't NE1 want to see real survive b/c its the almost the only competetion for MS (besides quicktime) in the streamin media software catagory? >>
No. If real dies, someone will come out with a good player that will play rm and ra files. The way they have centered their business plan around trickery and forcing itself into every nook and cranny of the OS shows how real they are... real scumbags.
I used to pull for them because they were the small guy against MS. Now I can't in good faith recommend that anyone ever try to download the software. Heaven help the person who goes by Real's "recommended" settings for downloading the software. Who in their right mind would pay $30 for the vaporware "plus" version of the player?
Anytime I see that stupid blue real icon in the taskbar, I cringe and think that real has infected another unsuspecting person with it's virus-like software.