Mike Torres, Lead Program Manager on Microsoft’s Movie Maker team, has kicked off a series of blog posts about the upcoming release of Windows Live Movie Maker, which is supposed to replace the eponymous desktop video editing software that has come pre-installed on Windows machines ever since Windows ME hit the market.
So far, the application has been in public beta, but many have criticized the inclusion of the program in Live Essentials in such a rudimentary state, claiming it should have been left out until it was ready.
Torres acknowledges as much:
“We also learned a lot by releasing an early beta of Movie Maker last year. People were surprised (or shocked, rather!) at the limited number of transitions, effects, and overall functionality in the program. We wanted to release the beta to start the conversation about the use of the ribbon and some of the overall changes to the software model, but in hindsight, the application just wasn’t useful enough for that. So, thanks for bearing with us as we’ve continued our work on Movie Maker.”
Windows 7, Microsoft’s next operating system, will not come with Movie Maker out of the box, so Microsoft wants to make Windows Live Movie Maker – official release due “later this year” – the primary tool for users who want to do some basic video editing. For that and other reasons, I thought it was pretty funny that one of the oft-requested features Torres cites in the blog post is support for Windows XP, the OS that pre-dates Vista.
Those users are out of luck, by the way, since Microsoft has decided not to add support for XP “given the technical requirements” (Windows XP lacks the new graphics driver model built into Vista and the upcoming Windows 7, as well as DirectX).
It’s one of Microsoft’s greatest tragedies: while they keep trying to better their products and adapt them to rapidly evolving technology in both hardware and software, they also need to factor in those tens of millions of users that are still using older systems and seem reluctant to upgrade to a new OS. The thing is: if Microsoft doesn’t innovate, it inevitably gets left (further) behind online, and when it does the company often alienates a large part of its customer base.
Or what you’d call finding yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Movie Maker as part of Live Essentials doesn’t even include the ability to rotate a clip… pretty lame.
I use Movie Maker only for very little editing work. For rest work I use Adobe Premiere Pro.
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MS kept us ahead of time in computer operating system for all these years.
Dude, if they port everything to XP, who will buy Win 7?
Exactly.
Gotta give them a reason to upgrade.
You describe it as a ‘web application’. I wouldn’t call it that because it’s a standard Windows app. Isn’t a web application something that runs in a browser?
Yes, of course, updated the wording, thanks.
Windows Movie Maker is good for video editing, as much as Paint is good for photo manipulation.
There are better, and still free, alternatives out there…
Can you recommend these “better” and “free” alternatives?
I’ve used Motionbox.com and found it compelling. Powerful technology, easy to use.
Sony Vegas is the way to go. I tried Live movie maker and was shocked at the limitations. Of course Sony Vegas is the opposite and has about 1 million settings and a steep learning curve.
i think some of you are a little harsh on WMM, it’s actually not that bad. obviously not for pros but i put together a really good retirement presentation together with it and found it really nice and easy to use. same goes for the new Photo Gallery which i prefer on balance to iPhoto, just wish microsoft would sort out lazy loading of graphics throughout win7 like icons popping into place when the start menu is ready and in photo gallery. i’d rather wait a little longer and have all graphics in view when i use stuff.
Windows Movie Maker is OK (included in Win. XP & Vista)
Windows Live Movie Maker is what were talking about here (downloadable from Windows Live), and it’s not OK. The fact it installs over the top of the standard Windows Movie Maker is particularly irritating.
its a beta. its not done yet.
fair point
I think most people complaining about Windows Live Movie Maker are correct. It’s just too basic for any good enough editing. They should try to make a video editor like iMovie and not some almost useless one like WLMM. I know many novice users who fire up WLMM to rotate videos, put PIP effects and use overlays ( even though they might not be able to name these fuctions/features correctly )
“They should try to make a video editor like iMovie and not some almost useless one like WLMM.”
So speaks someone who’s not used iMovie 08/9.
Microsoft doesn’t innovate… don’t think so…
Microsoft is always trying to keep compatibility with old versions as much as possible. If they don’t, everybody says that they do wrong because users with old OS are left out. But if the keep compatibility then they don’t innovate… Not easy game.
The last 3, 4 years Microsoft is doing great things (innovating), at least for developers (I’m a developer). This may be caused because of new competitors (linux, Google, etc), which is good for the software market.
We need Googles, RIMs, Androids, etc… But we also need Microsoft delivering good products… They all have a place…
I don’t understand why TechCrunch is always saying Microsoft is doing bad… That’s a story that some people can buy but TechCrunch team members are suposed to be professionals with great knowledge in the software industry….
The reason they can’t port Windows Live Movie Maker is due to the usage of Scenic and Direct X advancements in Windows Vista and 7 that aren’t available at all in Windows XP. This is the same as applications made using some of Leopard’s new APIs wont work on Tiger. If the Movie Maker was based on just .NET, it would have been easily backported
As much i would like to agree with you i can’t but i have found out how to make it run in XP.. but first you need to patch the installer and install several dependencies in xp and extra software for it to run.. not exactly straight forward but it does can run in xp and work perfectly.
@Lewis: Windows Live Movie Maker does *not* “install over the top of” Windows Movie Maker on Windows Vista; they can be run side-by-side ever since the first beta.
Though the post from yesterday is really about the upcoming release(s) and not about the beta. As I mentioned, we’re definitely aware that the beta was limited and are working hard to really improve on it this year.
Thanks for clarifying it. I’m running 7 now, so was posting just from memory.
This is balls to me. Too many people still use XP for their not to be some kind of offering that serves as a nice, free alternative to iMovie for PC Users who can’t afford to upgrade (not to mention, those who don’t want to.)
Brandon: there is and always has been an option for Windows XP users – Windows Movie Maker has been available for Windows XP since it launched in 2001. I mentioned that in my original post on Windows Live Wire and linked to the download site.
This post just played up the fact that Windows Live Movie Maker (a new product) won’t be. But XPs users have a great (free) solution today.
they need to not worry about bells and whistles as much as they need to make it work with mp4 files.