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Why is Firefox 5 requiring a Windows Media Player plugin that is dated 04/2007?

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 19 views
  • Last reply by finitarry

numetro
numetro
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Hello Firefox experts,

When I click on a link to play a standard WMV video in Firefox 5, in the movie player window it says "Click here to download plugin".

When I click "Click here to download plugin" in Firefox 5, I get a Firefox panel that says I need Windows Media Player 11, but I already have Windows Media Player 12 and its browser plugin installed on this computer... it worked fine in Firefox 3.6.

If I then click to install the Windows Media Player 11 plugin, it goes to another Firefox panel that says, "No plugins were installed, Windows Media Player 11 - Not Available". Then there is a "Manual Install" button, and when I click that, it takes me to some third party plugin site called "InteroperabilityBridges.com" that has a Firefox WMP plugin available that is dated April 2007.

Here's the link it gives... http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/windows-media-player-firefox-plugin-download

When I check my "Programs and Features" panel in my control panel, I can see that I already have something installed named, "Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin" installed and it is dated 10/24/2010, and it is version 1.0.0.8.

So the question is, why is Firefox 5 requiring I install an older Windows Media Player plugin, version 1.0.0.8 from 2007 that I already have installed, which is version 12, product version 1.0.0.8 dated 10/24/2010?

And why can't Firefox 5, if it does require an outdated WMP plugin because it doesn't understand the same 1.0.0.8 version that is already installed on this computer, why does it say, "Windows Media Player 11 - Not Available", then take me to a site with a vintage 2007 download to manually download and install?

Also, why all the new versions of Firefox? I just upgraded finally to v5 from v3.6 and now almost immediately there is version 6 and 7 beta? What happened to just having updates that simply install within a given version? All this changing to entirely new versions is what causes problems like the one I'm having now with Firefox 5 not recognizing the WMP plugin that it's asking for that's already installed.

Thanks,

numetro

Hello Firefox experts, When I click on a link to play a standard WMV video in Firefox 5, in the movie player window it says '''"Click here to download plugin"'''. When I click '''"Click here to download plugin"''' in Firefox 5, I get a Firefox panel that says I need Windows Media Player 11, but I already have Windows Media Player 12 and its browser plugin installed on this computer... it worked fine in Firefox 3.6. If I then click to install the Windows Media Player 11 plugin, it goes to another Firefox panel that says, '''"No plugins were installed, Windows Media Player 11 - Not Available"'''. Then there is a '''"Manual Install"''' button, and when I click that, it takes me to some third party plugin site called "InteroperabilityBridges.com" that has a Firefox WMP plugin available that is dated April 2007. Here's the link it gives... http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/windows-media-player-firefox-plugin-download When I check my "Programs and Features" panel in my control panel, I can see that I already have something installed named, '''"Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin"''' installed and it is dated 10/24/2010, and it is version 1.0.0.8. So the question is, why is Firefox 5 requiring I install an older Windows Media Player plugin, version 1.0.0.8 from 2007 that I already have installed, which is version 12, product version 1.0.0.8 dated 10/24/2010? And why can't Firefox 5, if it does require an outdated WMP plugin because it doesn't understand the same 1.0.0.8 version that is already installed on this computer, why does it say, "Windows Media Player 11 - Not Available", then take me to a site with a vintage 2007 download to manually download and install? Also, why all the new versions of Firefox? I just upgraded finally to v5 from v3.6 and now almost immediately there is version 6 and 7 beta? What happened to just having updates that simply install within a given version? All this changing to entirely new versions is what causes problems like the one I'm having now with Firefox 5 not recognizing the WMP plugin that it's asking for that's already installed. Thanks, numetro

All Replies (3)

finitarry
finitarry
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When I was using Windows, the Windows Media Plugin had not been updated for years, and it still worked. I was unable to find a newer version anyway.

The Mozilla developers have gotten the idea that they should copy what Chrome does, and Chrome changes major version numbers faster.

numetro
numetro Question owner
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Hi finitarry,

Is your answer intended as a solution? If so, in what way?

I've now re-installed the Firefox WMP plug-in (even though my system already had it installed) and it still will not show up in the FF 5 add-ons/plug-ins manager and FF5 still will not play an embedded WMV video file.

Are you just commenting or do you have some advice?

Thanks,

numetro

finitarry
finitarry
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You asked a question about why were the version numbers now changing so fast, and the Mozilla developers are copying Chrome, which is changing version numbers more quickly. They are also copying other aspects of Chrome.