RealNetworks
More info
- Creator
- Rob Glaser
- Released
- 1994
- Type
- Software company
The company that made audio on the web possible in 1995, then spent a decade making people regret installing its player.
Founded in 1994 in Seattle by former Microsoft executive Rob Glaser, under the name Progressive Networks. RealAudio arrived in 1995 and could stream sound over a 28.8k modem — tinny, but immediate, with no need to download the file first. Radio stations and news sites adopted it quickly, and the company renamed itself RealNetworks in 1997.
RealPlayer then became infamous for launching at boot, camping in the system tray, hijacking file associations and nagging about the paid version. Microsoft's Windows Media, and later Flash video, took the market. Glaser took the company private in 2022.