Wow, Windows Movie Maker...isn't half bad.

[Golgatha]

So I made the move to a single boot Vista Ultimate 64bit system (with WinXP Pro 32bit in VMWare for that odd application/game here and there) and I needed a new video editing program since Pinnacle Studio v9 was unsupported for Vista and was EOLed by Pinnacle (plus no firewire support in VMware). So I downloaded a trial of PowerDirector 7 and tried out Studio v12 too. Neither was exactly what I was looking for, for one reason or another.

Just out of pure curiosity, I tried out Windows Movie Maker. It basically had all the functionality I needed to capture and edit my home movies, and the DVD burning software actually made creating a nice DVD menu screen really easy. I think I'll just keep using it and not shell out extra money for a 3rd party application. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Golgatha
So I made the move to a single boot Vista Ultimate 64bit system (with WinXP Pro 32bit in VMWare for that odd application/game here and there) and I needed a new video editing program since Pinnacle Studio v9 was unsupported for Vista and was EOLed by Pinnacle (plus no firewire support in VMware). So I downloaded a trial of PowerDirector 7 and tried out Studio v12 too. Neither was exactly what I was looking for, for one reason or another.

Just out of pure curiosity, I tried out Windows Movie Maker. It basically had all the functionality I needed to capture and edit my home movies, and the DVD burning software actually made creating a nice DVD menu screen really easy. I think I'll just keep using it and not shell out extra money for a 3rd party application. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Microsoft is removing Movie Maker, Windows Mail and Photo Gallery from Windows Seven and instead will be providing links to Windows live Movie Maker, Live Photo Gallery and Live Mail instead. The newest versions of these are in closed beta right now and should be made public soon for XP and Vista. You should download and replace both Windows Mail and Photo Gallery with the current Live replacements because these newer versions have many more features and are very good. The Windows Live suite gives iLife a run for it's money.

There are three benefits for Microsoft unbundling these applications from Windows.

1. Less bloat for those that don't want or need these applications.

2. This will help satisfy regulatory agencies around the world and their insistence that Microsoft quit bundling all these apps.

3. Microsoft can update these products on a much regular time table and will backport new features and services to older versions of Windows.

 

[Griffinhart]

Movie maker isn't bad at all. I use it a lot more than I thought I would. It's certainly not as full featured as something like Adobe Premier or Sony Vegas, but It's easy to use and most importantly for me, it directly supports MS-DVR files. I use movie maker to edit out commercials from recorded TV shows so I can keep an archive of my favorite TV series on my Media Center.

It's pretty simplistic, but I can easily edit out all the commercials pretty quickly. What surprised me more was the Windows DVD maker software. It's fantastic IMHO. I can easily create menus, and the final results look amazing.

 

[bruceb]

You make some good points. Now here are some bad ones, in my view.
1): If you use MS Live then you can't downgrade to a prior version if that is the one you prefer to use.
Or in certain cases, some products, only work with up to a certain release, then support is removed,
as is the case with Motorola Phone Tools

2): Who's to say that at some point MS will want to Charge for the use of features / programs on MS Live ? ?

3): If I am doing a movie or similar, it would take longer to send my file to their server to be worked on and
then sent back to me. And who knows if they won't keep a record of what you did or a copy of the file itself ? ?

I would rather have the apps I need on my computer, except for web mail interfaces. And even, then, at some
point I may decide to interface them to Outlook or Thunderbird or Eudora.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You make some good points. Now here are some bad ones, in my view.
1): If you use MS Live then you can't downgrade to a prior version if that is the one you prefer to use.
Or in certain cases, some products, only work with up to a certain release, then support is removed,
as is the case with Motorola Phone Tools

2): Who's to say that at some point MS will want to Charge for the use of features / programs on MS Live ? ?

3): If I am doing a movie or similar, it would take longer to send my file to their server to be worked on and
then sent back to me. And who knows if they won't keep a record of what you did or a copy of the file itself ? ?

I would rather have the apps I need on my computer, except for web mail interfaces. And even, then, at some
point I may decide to interface them to Outlook or Thunderbird or Eudora.

1. Possibly, but on Vista and XP the original apps are still installed on the pc so you can always use those if you hate the newer versions. That of course will not be true of Win 7.

2. Competition from Apple and Google specifically will prevent this.

3. You do not need to be connected to the server to use these apps. They are still stand alone/hybrid cloud applications. The cloud part is purely optional so you don't have to worry about losing your stuff since it will still reside on your PC. Google Picasa and iPhoto both work the same way.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You make some good points. Now here are some bad ones, in my view.
1): If you use MS Live then you can't downgrade to a prior version if that is the one you prefer to use.
Or in certain cases, some products, only work with up to a certain release, then support is removed,
as is the case with Motorola Phone Tools

A valid point, once a Live App is upgraded, it's difficult to obtain earlier versions. Though isn't that the case for a lot of software available through the internet? Is it easy to get older versions of Picassa, for example?

2): Who's to say that at some point MS will want to Charge for the use of features / programs on MS Live ? ?

This is a false argument really. MS doesn't typically do that with software like this. IE, and Messenger have been around for years, yet have never been charged for. There is no reason to expect MS to change this.

3): If I am doing a movie or similar, it would take longer to send my file to their server to be worked on and
then sent back to me. And who knows if they won't keep a record of what you did or a copy of the file itself ? ?

I would rather have the apps I need on my computer, except for web mail interfaces. And even, then, at some
point I may decide to interface them to Outlook or Thunderbird or Eudora.

You are confusing Live Apps for online applications. The Windows Live suite of applications are all local apps. You are not running them on Microsoft servers. These are normal, standard applications.

The difference is that MS will simply not bundle them with the OS anymore so they can add more features and update them more frequently.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You make some good points. Now here are some bad ones, in my view.
1): If you use MS Live then you can't downgrade to a prior version if that is the one you prefer to use.
Or in certain cases, some products, only work with up to a certain release, then support is removed,
as is the case with Motorola Phone Tools

3): If I am doing a movie or similar, it would take longer to send my file to their server to be worked on and
then sent back to me. And who knows if they won't keep a record of what you did or a copy of the file itself ? ?

I would rather have the apps I need on my computer, except for web mail interfaces. And even, then, at some
point I may decide to interface them to Outlook or Thunderbird or Eudora.

1.) And if the application is integrated into the OS, how exactly do you downgrade this application?


3.) The Live applications are full stand alone products. They have no connection to a server.

 

[bruceb]

If it is a part of the OS then clearly you can't downgrade it. I am not sure if Windows Movie Maker is an integral part of Windows or is a standalone download (I believe it is, not sure)

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

Movie Maker is integrated into Vista much like Media Player. Live Movie Maker, however, is not.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: bruceb
If it is a part of the OS then clearly you can't downgrade it. I am not sure if Windows Movie Maker is an integral part of Windows or is a standalone download (I believe it is, not sure)

It is until Windows 7 is released. After that, these applications will be stand alone only.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Golgatha
I think I'll just keep using it and not shell out extra money for a 3rd party application. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Yep! I make all my YouTube videos with Windows Movie Maker - works excellent!

LoL!

You'll never believe how I found out about it... Kim Komando's Radio Show.