Vista Windows Media Player

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Why do you need to install a codec for MPEG 2 i.e. to play DVDs? Why doesn't
Windows Medial Player just play DVDs out of the box? Are there royalties
that need to be paid using this format?

I installed WinDVD and it plays DVDs fine but Windows Media Player 11 doesn't.
 
Windows Media Player in Windows XP would not play without a 3rd party codec
and Windows Media Player 11 is the same. You need a codec that Windows Media
Player can use.
 
Very true, however, the question was: "Why has Microsoft continued this
practice instead of including the codecs?"
 
Hundreds of codecs out there, and not everyone needs, nor wants them all on
their system. Some codecs conflict with software on the system, and
therefore, and automatic install of all these 3rd party codecs would cause
more problems than it solves.
 
But by virtual of it being called "Media" player you would expect that it
would play DVDs out of the box?
 
They will, as soon as Apple Macs become edible, Adobe Acrobat does
cartwheels across the screen, and PhotoShop sells me photographs.
 
Mike your analogies dont' fly. For the average home having your computer
play a DVD is expected. You can argue all the marketing rational you want
but having this excluded in my opinion is crazy. Do you expect a grandma to
know the right codec (or even understand that it's important) to download it
to play a DVD? We need to get out of tech world and see what life is like
with the average commercial user. Sure we can use SMS/AD to push the codec
out but the home users is going get a bad experience or bad satisfaction from
WMP - Quick Time and Real do this out of the box :-(
 
OF course it's expected, but your original argument wasn't exactly
flawless - there are commercial realities which MS has to live with e.g.
not being able to play back Apple or Real formats, or not wanting to add
the licensing fees for the DVD codecs to the base price of Windows.
Those people who buy OEM copies of Windows generally get a DVD codec
bundled independently.
 
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