“If you’re still using Apple’s QuickTime on a Windows PC, it’s time to stop,” Nathan Olivarez-Giles reports for The Wall Street Journal “Apple confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that it is no longer supporting or updating the 11-year-old QuickTime 7 for Windows, and has posted instructions for uninstalling the software. Keeping it installed on your computer may pose a risk.”
“”Deprecating’ was the exact word that Apple used for what’s going on with QuickTime,’ said Christopher Budd, a Trend Micro spokesman, citing a term developers use to describe software that’s still hanging around, but should not be used,” Olivarez-Giles reports. “‘They told us that they were not going to fix it,’ he said.”
“Apple began winding down support for QuickTime 7 on Windows in 2013, when it stopped offering tools to third-party developers. Its last update to QuickTime 7 for Windows came in August. And in January, Apple killed QuickTime browser plug-ins on Windows PCs, so browsers could no longer use QuickTime to play Web video and audio,” Olivarez-Giles reports. “If you’re one of those still running QuickTime 7 on a Windows PC, Apple has an alternative in iTunes, which can play back all the same video and audio files QuickTime does.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sayonara, QuickTime for Windows.
SEE ALSO:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Uninstall Apple’s QuickTime for Windows – April 15, 2016
iTunes does not convert files though. And who knows how much longer Quicktime 7 and X will be supported?
http://www.iffmpeg.com/index.html
FYI, Safari on OS X has already had its QT7 plug-in disabled.
And the second half of the question is:
Okay, I have original content that’s currently encoded in QT7 (and X too): Please now Apple, EKI5 just what OS X application do I run with what settings to pipe these existing QT7 files through to get to YYY (whatever the replacement new supported format is supposed to be … please specify by name).
Hmmm,
So, this means that major DAWs that currently use QT for video support for AV production are all going to have to update and support two different mechanisms on Windows vs. Mac OS. I wonder if Apple thought that through – it’s not an insignificant customer base…
Giving away a market they already are strong in seems like a dumb move. Maybe it’s a drop in the bucket for them but times aren’t always going to be this fat.
So, why is Apple ending QuickTime for Windows?
Was iTunes the only reason they originally started QuickTime for Windows?
Originally, iTunes required a co-installation of QuickTime. These days, iTunes does NOT require QuickTime. That makes it much easier for Apple to kill it off, albeit in a very poor fashion.
I uninstalled it eons ago. It’s been dead for a few years now more or less.
QuickTime or Windows? 😉
Yeah QuickTime for Windows. Can’t remember the last time I needed it honestly.
I see what you did there.
Fine if Apple wants to discontinue a product but this was not a very good way. They should have been proactive and way ahead of this negative press.
Good riddance Quicktime!
Knifed their own baby.
Sad to see it go.
“Knifed their own baby.”
Ha ha!
Not many people will get that!
.
Then this hit the fan:
Adobe warns that uninstalling vulnerable QuickTime for Windows can break Creative Cloud
Windows users who also use Adobe Creative Cloud software might be stuck with vulnerable QuickTime software on their systems for quite some time.
“Unfortunately, there are some codecs which remain dependent on QuickTime being installed on Windows, most notably Apple ProRes. We know how common this format is in many workflows, and we continue to work hard to improve this situation, but have no estimated timeframe for native decode currently. . . .
“Other commonly used QuickTime formats which would be affected by the uninstallation of QuickTime include Animation (import and export), DNxHD/HR (export) as would workflows where growing QuickTime files are being used (although we strongly advise using MXF for this wherever possible).”
Gee thanks, lousy Adobe. 😛 – – Oh! I’m on Macs! I don’t care! 😀
One more thing that is negative towards Apple. I’m guessing someone who oversees QT dropped the ball and this is not going to end well for them.
I had, and continue to have, the distinct impression that something bad happened to the QuickTime team years back, circa 2009. Snow Leopard was released that year with a highly compromised 64-bit (mostly) version called QuickTime X. It offered no pro features and cut a few regular features as well. The only way anyone could keep full QuickTime functionality was to separately install the older 32-bit version, which has since barely had an update.
It’s as if the core of the QuickTime team walked out of Apple. Either that or some lame administration decision broke up the QuickTime team and distributed them elsewhere. After 2009 QuickTime became an Apple afterthought. I believe it wasn’t until 2011 that Apple even bothered to finish making QuickTime X entirely 64-bit.
True, but it still falls under someone’s responsibility and they should be flogged. Apple may have to walk back their end-of-life statements into more of an apology. They royally messed up on this one.
Oh yes! This is an Apple mess. Adobe’s strict reliance on QuickTime technology is going to make certain this drags on for some time with lots of people blaming Apple for the insecurity of their Windows boxes thanks to their reliance on QuickTime.
As for who get’s flogged, I’d go after Apple’s security team who couldn’t be bothered to perform further QuickTime for Windows patches. ✋💥
Apple made a tool available, Adobe used it, Apple cancels the tool with no warning, you blame Adobe.
That’s a reasonable argument! Part of the problem here is Apple’s ProRes video format. It’s accessed via QuickTime. Mess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_ProRes
After pondering the different comments here, I think this situation coming to light finally answers some questions many of us have had over what in the world is going on with X application or Y bug/feature. Always optimistically saying Apple must have a grand plan, now I think there are some serious widespread issues that manifest in the problems we’ve been seeing. It’s heartbreaking and I really hope this situation prompts them to clean things up. This isn’t just about QuickTime for Windows being discontinued.
Why is quicktime even necessary?