Warp wrote:
>   Only remotely related, but one thing which annoys me a lot in XP is that
> the search function of Windows Explorer just doesn't work.

It is sucky, yes.  Vista seems to have improved it. :-)

>   Maybe it just doesn't search inside files which do not have a "known
> extension" (ie. .txt, .doc, etc).

I believe that's the case, yes. There has to be a COM class to say which 
parts of a file are text and which parts aren't. (I know I can search my 
disk for approximately any four-letter word and find it in *some* image file.)

Find yourself a copy of "Agent Ransack". It's GREP with a gui.

The other annoyance is that XP Home won't even search outside the "my 
documents" directory, even if you tell it to.

>   The Windows Media Player (and I suppose they changed it to "Media Center"
> later) is the quintessential example of using eyecandy at the cost of a
> good user interface.

WMP is highly configurable. You can "skin" it back to the old look, for the 
most part. But yes, most every media player I've found, including stuff like 
WinDVD and other seemingly-straightforward players, insist on giving you a 
funky interface that makes no sense. Half the time I can't even figure out 
how to drag the controls out from in front of the video.

FWIW, Media Center is unrelated to Media Player, except that it talks to WMP 
to get listings of the libraries and to actually play the content. MC will 
record TV, play music and slideshows and videos, access online videos (at 
least the ones Microsoft links in), allows plug-ins for all sorts of stuff 
like games, caller-ID, etc., works with the IR remotes, and is generally 
meant to work more as a TiVO does than WMP does. It's closer to MythTV than 
it is to iTunes, if that makes sense.

>   No wonder the popular "Media Player Classic" is based on the UI of Media
> Player 6. It simply didn't have any crap. It was clean and simple.

Agreed. Every time a new WMP comes out that I have to use for whatever 
reason, I spend an hour figuring out where the menus got to and such.

But there are far worse out there. "Where's the menu?"  "See the thing that 
looks like a flip-down cover? Click there to flip it down, and the buttons 
behind it are the menu."  WTF? If I wanted my DVD player to look like a DVD 
player, I wouldn't be pushing the buttons with my mouse.  I even saw one 
that had a flashing 12:00 on it when you started it up.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The NFL should go international. I'd pay to
   see the Detroit Lions vs the Roman Catholics.

Post a reply to this message