Bowing to reality, Xing Technologies, which last week sided with RealNetworks' complaint that Microsoft's Windows Media Player "broke" Real Audio, announced this week that they are now siding with Microsoft. As a result, RealNetworks removed Xing from a list of supporters on its Web site. Xing, which makes its own media player, clarified its position in a statement posted to its own site.
"Both the Windows Media Player and the XingMPEG Player have the ability to play back MPEG content," the statement reads. "When the Xing player is installed on a PC with the Windows Media Player, it will replace the Windows Media Player as the default player of MPEG content. Just like the XingMPEG Player, when Windows Media Player is installed after the Xing player, the Windows Media Player automatically becomes the default MPEG player. For both the XingMPEG Player and Windows Media Player, the last player installed will become the default MPEG player and each follow an identical behavior pattern in this regard.
The Xing statement can be found on their Web site