VLC for Windows 8 making progress, still work to be done

Windows users have lots of choice when it comes to media players. They can run Windows Media Player or use a third party media player like VLC, SMPlayer or one of the dozen others that are equally great and ship with all the codecs needed so that you do not need to go codec hunting.

When you look at what is being offered in Windows Store right now, you will notice that the players found in there are not really that great at all. Many limit what you can play and while some add formats like mkv to the operating system, I would not really want to use any of them at the time of writing due to their limiting interfaces and feature sets.

I can't really say if this is going to change when Videolan releases the VLC application for Windows 8, but if it gets only half as good as the desktop version, it will beat the apps currently in store by a mile.

The developers of the app have posted an update on the project's Kickstarter page informing backers and the public about the progress that has been made since the last update. While there is still no alpha or beta version available for the public, it appears as if the developers are closing in on the final product.

Videolan worked on making the application Windows Store compliant. According to the developers working on the project, a lot of time was used to remove or replace symbols that are not allowed in Metro mode. The team is currently working on making VLC work with MSVCRT 11.0 without crashing, and new headers and C/C++ code to access COM APIs of Windows 8 / Windows RT.

It looks as if we will have to wait a little bit longer before the VLC version for Windows 8 will be shipped. While not confirmed, Videolan may be releasing a beta version of the app for users to sideload in Windows 8. We will keep you updated on the development here.

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