Microsoft to create its own iLife-style suite?

They're only talking about 'Monaco' currently, which'd be a "GarageBand competitor". I'm not sure what they mean that it'd make use of the Aero visuals. Do they mean the interface is going to flip and fold whenever you want to click on something? ;) ...
 
From what I've seen of the demonstrations of the Aero interface in Vista, it means "Instead of making nice, readable text with sharp contrast, lets make the lettering stylised fonts, in grey, on a translucent background, that shows through all the clutter behind it. Yeah, that'll look cool."

I remember how annoyed I was when I heard that Microsoft were planning to knock off iMovie with their new "Windows Movie Maker" about 5 years ago. I shouldn't have even bothered reading the article then, as Movie Maker is the most unimportant and un-talked-about bit of crummy software Microsoft have made since "Bob" was released. I suspect this will be the same.
 
Monaco would be very similar to Apple's GarageBand application, but would be optimized to take advantage of Windows Vista and the Aero user interface
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From that, it sounds like they are porting Garageband to Windows..

symphonix said:
Movie Maker is the most unimportant and un-talked-about bit of crummy software Microsoft have made since "Bob" was released. I suspect this will be the same.
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Only in an aqua-esque interface.
 
They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery...
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Yea 'cause Apple invented the multi-track loop sound application *cough-Acid* *cough-Cakewalk*

I'm all about loving Apple and hating Microsoft, but at least use some common sense, Apple has copied a ton of people too you know. Usually small developers.
 
I'm not saying Apple were the first on the scene with their iLife applications. I used Acid-Pro back in the mid-nineties. I'm just saying that I'm pretty confident that Microsoft's take on the problem will be poorly designed, annoying to use and ultimately doomed to be a mediocre and unimportant little application that everyone will have forgotten about in a few years from now.
 
symphonix said:
I remember how annoyed I was when I heard that Microsoft were planning to knock off iMovie with their new "Windows Movie Maker" about 5 years ago. ....
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oooOoo I'd forgotten all about Movie Maker. That was awful, truly an embarrassment for MS.
 
my mate did his first year degree film project on it because he couldn't get hold of the university's Final Cut workstations. it was good, no-one noticed that he'd used anything other than Final Cut, i mean, it just does what it says on the tin, without the cheesy ripple effects that iMovie loves so much. i always find iMove frustrating, it's not just cut down, but it's very restrictive, too.
 
problem with movie maker though is that you can't export DV. Or did that fix that larter? When I tried it years and years ago I could only export as WMV.
 
symphonix said:
I'm not saying Apple were the first on the scene with their iLife applications. I used Acid-Pro back in the mid-nineties. I'm just saying that I'm pretty confident that Microsoft's take on the problem will be poorly designed, annoying to use and ultimately doomed to be a mediocre and unimportant little application that everyone will have forgotten about in a few years from now.
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It will be poorly designed, yet Windows users will love it and think it is completely original.

Btw, it probably would have helped if I had linked to the original article I read, rather than a different one :p

Microsoft is said to be developing a competing product to Apple's GarageBand, code-named "Monaco". According to Microsoft Watch, the software is "very similar" to Apple's entry-level music creation application, and will be optimised for Vista and its OS X-like "Aero" user interface.

In fact, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant may plan a full onslaught against Apple's iLife with a digital lifestyle package of its own, the report hints. This news is bolstered by rumors that the company is also developing its own image-sharing application under the code-named "Max".

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1665
 
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