As I’ve said before, we continue to work on a number of commercial projects, which means we continue to refine the OSX client.
Today, I finally got movies to work in OSX. What you see below is a screenshot of a movie streamed from the Web (from an Apple Quicktime .mov file), but it also works for H.264 movies. “H.264” means we can play movies from YouTube without use the Adobe Flash player which fundamentally just sucked from a performance standpoint.
We also refactored movie support a bit, which will make it easier to use other encoder/decoders, like ffmpeg, for example.
P.S. I’ll put up a longer, more technical post about this later. While there’s lots of QuickTime documentation on the Web, it sometimes leads you down rabbit holes, and in the end you seem to always say “Wait, that’s all I had to do?”
I am so There 
#1 by MeMoSH on 2010.11.24 - 2:50 am
Hi .
Just one Q .!
If there.com open again how can we get our TB and our account .!
And if I want to create a new acc can i get my old acc tb ?
#2 by theclanker on 2010.10.03 - 6:53 pm
Mike, I remember asking you about the “dirty rumor” that There.com was closing. I also remember you stating that it was an entirely fictional story that held no merit. I find it hard to place a lot of trust in your statements after our previous encounters.
I have lost contact with a great many friends due to the closing of There. I must admit, that is was because of my own pigheaded-ness ( I refused to use another 3D world), but I truly felt that the dynamics and the interpersonal interactions that There offered could not be duplicated, and I cherished the times that I had with so many of my fellow Therians. I truly hope that if there is ever a new version of There released, that I will have the opportunity to once again participate in one of the greatest online virtual worlds that ever graced the internet.
#3 by Michael Wilson on 2010.10.03 - 6:57 pm
At the time you asked, There wasn’t closing. As we said in the closing announcement, we always believed, right up to the end, that something would have worked, and turned the numbers around, but it didn’t.
If you read my answers to comments in later posts, you’ll see that I was writing checks each month to keep There open. If I knew There was to close, it wouldn’t have made sense for me to keep writing those checks, now would it? I guess it was my own form of pig-headedness that kept me believing the numbers would change. I guess I don’t regret that part a bit, since it kept There open a little longer.
#4 by Girl Next Door....Not Really...Maybe...Idk... on 2010.09.28 - 3:05 pm
oh, ok, thanks for clarifying, i guess i shoud delete those old there clients then..
#5 by Girl Next Door....Not Really...Maybe...Idk... on 2010.09.28 - 1:55 pm
Question: When and if There.com *best virtual world ever* reopens, will we all still have our same accounts, or will we all have to make new ones because the world is so new…and will it be really laggy because it’s on a money saving server? And will money still be a problem, because i heard that the only reason There.com *best virtual world ever* closed down was a loss of funds because there were too many non-premiums running around….i think that there should have been more advertising about premium-ship because i met alot of non-premiums that had no idea how to even buy or rent clothes nonetheless get premium-ship, theyhad no idea what i was talking about, like greek…i think that would have kept there running longer, but i am pleased that it’s reopening….but the most daring question: When???
#6 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.28 - 1:57 pm
Yes. We have took several complete backups and stored them in several places.
#7 by Girl Next Door....Not Really...Maybe...Idk... on 2010.09.28 - 2:53 pm
ok, good, because if i wasn’t bailey still, i’d freak out..so i’m glad that there.com is reopening…I’m guessing you can’t tell us when because of certain reasons, like the date could be wrong, so another question: i still have the there.com client downloaded and all the extras for it, such as js compass, changemehack, etc, should i take all those off or keep them? i don’t really want to remove them but if that clien is not working ever again, i misewell open up some space on my harddrive while i’m at it, right?
#8 by Michael Wilson on 2010.09.28 - 2:55 pm
I’m sorry, I didn’t say There was re-opening, I said the if it were to re-open, we have backups of the world when it closed.
I wouldn’t keep any old There clients around. It’s just taking up disk space right now.
#9 by Corey_Lee of THERE on 2010.09.26 - 3:00 pm
We really miss there.com that projects give us hope also so i believe it will reopen soon .
#10 by myarttoyou on 2010.08.09 - 8:04 am
I made a typo. Sorry about that.
Take care:)
#11 by myarttoyou on 2010.08.09 - 8:02 am
Hello Michael,
It really is a shame that There is closed. We have all morned so badly, and miss what we had. Many have put you down for closing There, but I know you had your reasons for closing it. I don’t know what they were, but I’sure it must have hurt you as much as us, if not more. I know you loved the world as much as we did–that was very obvious at the rlg’s we had.
I will always cherish the memories I have from There, and all the screenshots I have. I miss it terribly, and people to this day still morn, and they have posted it several times on my facebook page.
I wish you all the best in your ventures, and I am glad to see you doing something for the education of students. If only school had been that way for me…
There will never be forgotten, and will always be loved, but you have to do what you have to do, and what makes you happy and prosperous.
All the best to your family, and to all you do.
Smiles,
Holly aka DreamWeaver in There
#12 by GLD on 2010.08.06 - 4:29 am
Aaah, slight glimpse of hope.
I miss there.com, extremely bad. I made some pretty close friends there, as I’m sure everyone did. Good luck on the work, we know it isn’t anybodies fault. The economy just sucks right now.
#13 by Taylor on 2010.07.23 - 2:41 pm
so many lands of make believe around .there.com was my favorite…inspired me along with other virtual worlds and games to model my own land of make believe I dream to bring others in to enjoy along side me someday…cheers!!!
#14 by Read on 2010.07.13 - 9:52 pm
I know theres probraly a contract saying no refunds, but come on cant u atleast try your best to get there back so me and lots of other ppl dont feel like we wasted money on something that u cant even use any more.
#15 by reenren on 2010.07.14 - 7:15 pm
every time you go to a movie in a theater or to any kind of entertainment event you spend money on something you cant use any more. do you bitch about that too? just curious. +)
#16 by ... on 2010.07.28 - 11:48 am
lol
#17 by Domano on 2010.07.13 - 2:29 pm
Lucky them – Makena employees – get to still play in There. Sure wish there was at least some stand alone version…
#18 by xxBethanyxx on 2010.07.11 - 5:40 am
Michael, what do you mean by the platform? lol
#19 by xxBethanyxx on 2010.07.11 - 5:38 am
Wow Michael, great job! I’m glad to see you’re still doing stuff involving there even though its gone D:
#20 by DrChisel on 2010.07.07 - 5:07 pm
Teri nice name choice. It really fits her. 🙂
#21 by pleaseeee on 2010.06.28 - 5:13 am
Gosh this gives me some hope that there.com will re open, please nothing will everrrr be as good as there.com, take away hover boarding and racing and just give us there.com back,
#22 by reenren on 2010.07.14 - 7:17 pm
no just give me back the hoverboarding, i dont have time to chat lol +P
#23 by Wolf on 2010.06.18 - 12:16 am
The thing is that I know many people that tried to sinucide after the close of there, others that were about to pay for stuff, others that were really contribuing to the game, others losing they’re lives playing, The thing is, that by closing the game, Michael, you also done a crime. Making people every single day looking onto websites hoping for a re-open.. I know someone that I won’t say here that tried to take pills so he would die. The thing is that there was unique in it’s way, it was the best virtual world ever, ever. No one can ever copy it or make anything better than there.com, I learned english by playing there, I learned more about virtual games and the industry , just by playing this. It was soo good, that I cry whenever thinking about it and that is closed. I remember going in the last day buying everything since it was free and placing it everywhere.. a last time of fun… I really apreciate… But man, you closed it? I expected more from you, M, More… You failed…
#24 by reenren on 2010.07.14 - 7:20 pm
wolf you are short sighted in your harsh judgement. if mw had truely failed, you would not be posting here.
#25 by Captain on 2010.07.16 - 12:21 am
A bud tried to suicide bcuz of the close of there. Lucky he that he got saved from himself.
And he wasn’t the only one that tried that. Another thing I don’t get is why is MW working on there.com after it closed. I mean I think VIRTUAL Congress will fail because all the politicans and gouvernament shits are liers and thiefs ( mostly in America and in other countries such as Romania ) But anyways it’s a ,,educational” program why they need movies in OSX?
I am confused.
Anyways, Hope it will again open,
Best regards,
Captain
#26 by CubanCarlos on 2010.06.17 - 7:19 am
Wow…
I really missed those newbie clothes, and the green landscape and those name tags from there… Haven’t seen them in a while…
Guys, stop harassing MW, like he’s said before, its not that he does not want There to come back, its just the economic status we are in right now is not the best to be reopening a virtual world like There.
#27 by 20000Dollers on 2010.06.17 - 4:13 am
yes i agree with u me it would be great if therew.com did reopen and i think if it did open agane everyone would go back on there.com it would get busy agane and i also think MW closed there.com to the public only and wonts to update the softwhere to make it better and i think hes gonna reopen it in the futere ……. well i hope so it would open and i think MW is working on the windows clinet cuz hes finished the mac os x clinet
#28 by Me on 2010.06.16 - 10:04 am
I think MW is too busy working on the client to answer our questions…
I’d like to know if There.com will reopen I really miss it. As someone said There.com was a unique game I still dont understand why it closed.
Anyway I hope that these new depelopments mean that we’ll see There.com again.
#29 by Emilly on 2010.06.11 - 12:12 pm
wait Michael are u planing to make a new virtual world like there.com?
#30 by tobstar on 2010.06.07 - 7:04 pm
Great, you finally get the OS X client working AFTER There is closed. Hahaha I don’t miss There too much anyway. It would be cool if it came back, it was such a unique game. I’ve never seen any game with the variety, unique graphics and amazing social community that There had.
#31 by 20000Dollers on 2010.06.06 - 4:19 pm
michael wilson please tell me stright is there.com closed for good or are u gonna open it later on in the futere….. ? ps please tell us the truth
#32 by susie on 2010.06.06 - 10:28 am
whats the point on this is this a wind up i thought you closed there.com for good why bother working on new technology for a site when its closed & everyone who was members have settled in on other virtual worlds or have got on with their real life
#33 by Defector on 2010.06.15 - 5:34 pm
There.com was CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC. Makena Technologies still goes in because as Michael Wilson said they are working on education programs. They can still go in the world but the public cant.
#34 by reenren on 2010.07.14 - 7:26 pm
why bother to do anything? because if you can find a way, you do it. “it” does not rely on “us”. and nothing is forever, and never say never.
people always want to have definite answers, when nothing in this world is a sure thing, ever. sometimes we just run on instinct, feeling our way in the dark, especially the ones that drive the future.
life is full of surprises. be open to miracles. leave the demands for others to know the future behind. enjoy the mystery…. U may find its much more fun and far more satisfying… +)
#35 by Richard Hallock on 2010.06.03 - 7:06 am
“As I’ve said before, we continue to work on a number of commercial projects,”
Actually I think this is the first time you have mentioned any commercial projects, what I had heard you say before was you were working on several ‘educational’ projects. Good news indeed! Thank you for keeping us posted as the platform develops.
#36 by Another There Fan on 2010.05.27 - 1:43 am
Why are you continuing to work on the client if you have no plans to open in the “forseeable future”? Call me crazy, but I really don’t understand. Are you making the platform better so you can advertise it later and hope more people spend more money and stay in game later on? Tell us your secrets Michael!
#37 by Jonathan on 2010.05.25 - 12:08 pm
Although there is now closed – this is awesome!
Throughout my time on there.com as a mac user, i constantly had to use Parallels to play the game, and the mac client would have been a dream!
Hopefully one day the world will re-open with mac natively supported!
Good work M.W.
– Jonathan
#38 by Jonny on 2010.05.25 - 12:30 am
Wow so this means a break through! 😛 look forward to seeing more. and does this mean a whole new there.com to re open? with a different and sufficient platform less cost effective?
#39 by reenren on 2010.07.14 - 7:21 pm
i think u mean “more” cost effective…
#40 by Thereian Fan on 2010.05.24 - 6:18 pm
Nice.
There is a issue I’ve noticed with QuickTime. Every week they update QuickTime, so you need to make sure that you have the latest version of QuickTime or it may not work. It happeneds to me on SL sometimes. But otherwise, great job on it!
Hows the OSX working with the client? Did you get voice working well with it?
#41 by DrChisel on 2010.05.23 - 4:22 pm
This is after there closed and the dvd for avatar came out after there closed so how did you get that screenshot?? And your still making changes to it even though its closed??? Can you explain?
#42 by Michael Wilson on 2010.05.24 - 7:19 pm
This screenie was taken literally 2 or 3 days ago, streaming the trailer from the Apple Quicktime site. As I’ve said, we continue to do work on the platform.
#43 by Alex on 2010.09.04 - 7:59 am
Does this mean that you are planning to reopen There.com or make a new website just like it?
#44 by Adam on 2010.05.22 - 6:26 pm
Wow this is great news!
I always look forward to reading your posts about There and see the progress you are making with the platform. Keep em’ coming!