Apple stops patching QuickTime for Windows despite 2 active vulnerabilities

Security firm urges Windows users to uninstall media player.

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[truthyboy15]

does anyone remember real player?

 

[LostFire]

People still use QuickTime for Windows?

 

[Entegy]

Even so, Apple officials should have shown the courtesy to tell Windows users QuickTime was no longer receiving security updates, rather than leaving it to Trend Micro.

This isn't a surprise. Apple doesn't announce end of life dates on product, it just stops working on them and leaves the product languishing, leaving customers wondering if current bugs will ever get fixed.

 

[7xq0p58q5s]

I wonder how this will affect products, such as Vernier's Logger Pro software, which requires Quicktime for much of its higher function outputs.

 

[Agreschn]

Does this mean Apple isn't going to try and force it down my throat in their stupid updater now? *fingers crossed*

 

[Unsheept]

I didn't know QuickTime was still a thing.

 

[svalentin]

"removal instructions here" points to http://meincmagazine.com/security/2016/04 ... ities/LINK

 

[FabianN]

Meanwhile the organization I work for needs to have quicktime with it's browser plugin installed because the online testing software used for the students requires Quicktime.

:/

 

[foxyshadis]

"Patching is hard. Screw it, we're done with this."

The only surprise is that it lasted this long; QT for Windows has been a turd since its initial release, and its capabilities have all be absorbed by other applications long since, including many free ones these days. Any ffmpeg-based player or decoder can easily handle all of its proprietary formats. I wonder how many people actually bought the "Pro" version back in the day?

 

[byosys]

If they're not going to patch it they should have the decency to 1. tell the user, 2. provide a link to some comparable alternatives and then 3. have the updater uninstall it rather than leave machines vulnerable indefinitely.

Edit: just check Apple's software updater on my Win7 machine. Quicktime shows up as a "New Software" option. Big companies leaving software unpatched is a disgrace by itself but offering to install compromised software that's been EOL'd is even worse.

 

[tedkord1]

LostFire[/url]":wnlc27ve]People still use QuickTime for Windows?

That's what I was wondering. Haven't had it installed in many years. It was crap.

 

[omgia]

I actually use it every day at work. We handle hundreds of video files weekly that need to have specific parts trimmed out of them then converted. Quicktime 7 Pro (on Mac and Windows) lets you save "Hinted Movies" that are only a few kilobytes or megabytes in size compared to dozens of gigabytes for the original. That hinted file can then be used to batch encode our files to their final output using trim points from the "hinted" and video from the original. Haven't found another product that can do the same.

 

[Tastyfreeze]

LostFire[/url]":22imb6z3]People still use QuickTime for Windows?

Last I saw it was needed for iTunes on windows. Thats how it usually got installed in the first place.

 

[WaveRunner]

LostFire[/url]":ubmp09g0]People still use QuickTime for Windows?

I know ProTools use to ask you to install QuickTime. Not sure if they are still using it for video or audio import.

 

[anurodhp]

swholliday[/url]":32lrs10w]I didn't know QuickTime was still a thing.

Its heavily used on OS X. Basically all native media playback

 

[issor]

Even so, Apple officials should have shown the courtesy to tell Windows users QuickTime was no longer receiving security updates

This is probably true, however I'm struggling to understand just how they could do this that would make any meaningful difference. The way it is stated makes it sound like there's some sort of magic "Windows users" Google group or mailing list that they could post to, where every layperson who happens to have a Windows device will get the word. Did they require registration to download the product? Or should they just tell Ars-like outlets and hope the word makes it to the 99% of people who don't follow tech news or pay attention to security bulletins?

 

[foxyshadis]

omgia[/url]":fb47z8pg]I actually use it every day at work. We handle hundreds of video files weekly that need to have specific parts trimmed out of them then converted. Quicktime 7 Pro (on Mac and Windows) lets you save "Hinted Movies" that are only a few kilobytes or megabytes in size compared to dozens of gigabytes for the original. That hinted file can then be used to batch encode our files to their final output using trim points from the "hinted" and video from the original. Haven't found another product that can do the same.

Every non-linear editor works that way. Pro tools like Premiere and Vegas down to free ones like Lightworks and Blender. Even Windows Movie Maker could create cutlists that could be encoded later.

 

[WXW]

People still use QuickTime for Windows?

I begrudgingly installed it because some other software needed it... but now I don't remember what software, so let's see what breaks...

 

[Babylon Mister]

I remember using QuickTime Alternative, but I don't remember why an alternative was "needed".

 

[Aaron44126]

I still use it (Pro version) occasionally for the metadata editor. It lets me rotate videos taken from an iPhone without having to re-encode them. Guess I should look for an alternative piece of software that can do this...

 

[HamHands_]

omgia[/url]":3ijjhlba]I actually use it every day at work. We handle hundreds of video files weekly that need to have specific parts trimmed out of them then converted. Quicktime 7 Pro (on Mac and Windows) lets you save "Hinted Movies" that are only a few kilobytes or megabytes in size compared to dozens of gigabytes for the original. That hinted file can then be used to batch encode our files to their final output using trim points from the "hinted" and video from the original. Haven't found another product that can do the same.

I was actually curious what "Hinted Movies" are and it appears to be just shortcuts to specific clips for movies (if the one pdf I read about it is correct). That would essentially reduce the filesize to nothing relative to the original file. I could have it completely wrong, but the alternative would be that you're trying to extract clips from movie files which, as far as I'm aware almost every single video editing software supports.

If I am correct and you wanted to emulate that behavior you could do it using vlc by creating a windows shortcut with this command:

"CProgram Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "CMymovie.mp4" --start-time 400 --stop-time 410


I'm sure other media players have similar flags.

However I will admit this is not as easy as a GUI and 'extract selection to shortcut' isn't a feature I've seen in the few free video editing software products I've used.

EDIT:

Missed the bit about batch cutting operations. I was wrong. Move along nothing to see here people...

 

[clarityoffline]

"Even so, Apple officials should have shown the courtesy to tell Windows users QuickTime was no longer receiving security updates"

They haven't even removed it from their website or made a notation there that it's no longer being updated... you can still download it straight from Apple...

 

[LeopardSeal]

This is going to have an effect on other software. For example Steinberg's Cubase and Nuendo user Quicktime for video playback.

 

[omgia]

foxyshadis[/url]":ttxfdr62]
Every non-linear editor works that way. Pro tools like Premier and Vegas down to free ones like Lightworks and Blender. Even Windows Movie Maker could create cutlists that could be encoded later.

Quicktime is a much faster workflow for us. NLE's are too cluttered and often require a lot more steps to achieve the same result. Free NLE's are often the worst at this and can't justify Pro app prices for someone who just sets in/out points all day.

Edit: Another nice thing about quicktime is it is a really light program, letting us trim files on relatively old equipment. Typically on old Core Duo or Core 2 Duo processors (mac/pc) with ~2GB RAM.

In terms of time to complete the steps...quicktime allows us to complete each trim file in about 10-20 seconds open to set points to export to close. Many NLE's take that long just to load.

 

[bp_]

jmathew[/url]":33ipro3k]

"CProgram Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "CMymovie.mp4" --start-time 400 --stop-time 410

EDIT:

Missed the bit about batch cutting operations. I was wrong. Move along nothing to see here people...

...so combine that with the flags in https://wiki.videolan.org/Transcode/#Tr ... and_Prompt ? or use ffmpeg?

 

[omgia]

jmathew[/url]":1pjguobj]I was actually curious what "Hinted Movies" are and it appears to be just shortcuts to specific clips for movies (if the one pdf I read about it is correct). That would essentially reduce the filesize to nothing relative to the original file. I could have it completely wrong, but the alternative would be that you're trying to extract clips from movie files which, as far as I'm aware almost every single video editing software supports.

If I am correct and you wanted to emulate that behavior you could do it using vlc by creating a windows shortcut with this command:

"CProgram Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "CMymovie.mp4" --start-time 400 --stop-time 410


I'm sure other media players have similar flags.

However I will admit this is not as easy as a GUI and 'extract selection to shortcut' isn't a feature I've seen in the few free video editing software products I've used.

EDIT:

Missed the bit about batch cutting operations. I was wrong. Move along nothing to see here people...

Thanks for thinking about it. We do need to use a GUI because we have to see where each in/out point will be. We did do some testing with manually entering timecodes for in/out points, but was slower and more prone to typos. And yeah, batch encoding is essential. Basically we have a watch folder that takes all those hinted files and encodes them on a remote server.

 

[AesirValkyr]

QT at least for windows felt like so much bloatware. Seemed to take forever to initialize. Glad to know when my new PC parts come in, I don't even have to think about it.

 

[fmorel]

truthyboy15[/url]":xpr7kkjl]does anyone remember real player?

Remember? Work still uses it for livestreams. We have VLC installed now so I'm hoping it's going away soon.

 

[Deleted member 276317]

Uninstallation of QuickTime does not appear to have affected my ability to watch iTunes movies.

 

[crawfish]

Tastyfreeze[/url]":3az60efo]

LostFire[/url]":3az60efo]People still use QuickTime for Windows?

Last I saw it was needed for iTunes on windows. Thats how it usually got installed in the first place.

It's been several years since that was true. iTunes has been a standalone product since at least 2012, I would say.

 

[xichael]

If only other apps weren't dependent on it. After Effects and MediaMonkey, for example.

 

[Katana314]

I recall Source Filmmaker (what people use to make newer TF2 machinima videos) requires Quicktime to be able to export directly to MP4.

I've moved on to a more complicated method involving exporting a picture for each frame, but it'd be sad if I simply couldn't export that way anymore. Maybe Valve will take this as a hint to integrate with something open source like WebM.

 

[NuVector]

Thoughtful[/url]":303tiq5f]Uninstallation of QuickTime does not appear to have affected my ability to watch iTunes movies.

Not surprising, since Quicktime Pro was deprecated in 2009 for Quicktime X which, while not supporting a bunch of codecs etc., was itself deprecated a year later for the AVFoundation. Quicktime Pro 7, was basically the last version of the QTkit-enabled video editing/conversion software.

I wasn't aware that so many folks still depended on QTkit what with the tools available today. Huh. Shows to go ya, invent an easier mousetrap and people will beat a path to your... API? Uh, whatever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickTime

 

[d4Njv]

issor[/url]":1r8zmhex]

Even so, Apple officials should have shown the courtesy to tell Windows users QuickTime was no longer receiving security updates

This is probably true, however I'm struggling to understand just how they could do this that would make any meaningful difference. The way it is stated makes it sound like there's some sort of magic "Windows users" Google group or mailing list that they could post to, where every layperson who happens to have a Windows device will get the word. Did they require registration to download the product? Or should they just tell Ars-like outlets and hope the word makes it to the 99% of people who don't follow tech news or pay attention to security bulletins?

Google publicly announces its product deprecations well in advance and news outlets seem to pick up on them (e.g. http://meincmagazine.com/gadgets/2015/11/ ... pril-2016/). I wouldn't be surprised if Google built deprecation notices into the last versions of Chrome for those old platforms. Similarly, Microsoft publishes its product lifecycles well in advance (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle) and managed to let XP users know that their OS was no longer being supported. Apple manages to get iOS users to upgrade their OS whenever a new version comes out. It just hasn't even tried in this case.

 

[jrose]

anurodhp[/url]":202eh4xq]

swholliday[/url]":202eh4xq]I didn't know QuickTime was still a thing.

Its heavily used on OS X. Basically all native media playback

Quicktime X (which came out half a decade ago or more) on OS X is like Media player on Windows. Except better because its been optimized for power consumption pretty heavily.

Quicktime on Windows is based on the old version from say 2003.

And yes, a media player is an operating system standard feature these days....


I'm kinda glad Apple is abandoning more windows versions of it's software (windows safari was killed some time ago); it's wasted effort because all the Windows versions of its products do is give apple software a bad reputation. The OS X versions are generally far better than the Windows versions and Windows users hate the Windows versions of their stuff, with good reason. It's generally trash.

Apple's Windows software does more to dissuade people from trying OS X than anything else, IMHO.

 

[noanoxan]

crawfish[/url]":qde5bbg8]

Tastyfreeze[/url]":qde5bbg8]

LostFire[/url]":qde5bbg8]People still use QuickTime for Windows?

Last I saw it was needed for iTunes on windows. Thats how it usually got installed in the first place.

It's been several years since that was true. iTunes has been a standalone product since at least 2012, I would say.

Never is more like it. I've never installed it when installing iTunes. Ever.

 

[harmless]

anurodhp[/url]":3rwo6b4i]

swholliday[/url]":3rwo6b4i]I didn't know QuickTime was still a thing.

Its heavily used on OS X. Basically all native media playback

Actually, that's not really true any more.

While the player is still called QuickTime Player, QuickTime has been superseded by AV Foundation.

(The QuickTime layer is still available for backwards compatibility, of course.)

Edit:

Um... since I got downvotes here is a link. Notice the 'new' badge on the right next to AV Foundation and check the description.

https://developer.apple.com/quicktime/

 

[Sasparilla]

Sure would be great to hear some confirmation from Apple, especially since you can still download it. Another tool of the earlier web days disappears.