Help wanted

After finally reading those CNet articles about Microsoft's nefarious approach to video, I thought I'd have a look at my PCs. Now I run Windows Media Player, and it seems to support the following codecs: Cinepak codec ClearVideo Decoder Driver; Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec; Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec for MSACM; Intel Audio Codec; Intel I.263 Video Driver; Intel Indeo 3.0 Video Codec; Intel Indeo 5.0 Video Codec; Intel Indeo(R) Video Interactive 32-bit Driver; Intel RAW YVU9 Video Driver; Lernout And Hauspie Codecs; Microsoft MPEG-4 Standard Video Codec; Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec v1; Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec v2; Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec v3; Microsoft Network Audio Codec; Microsoft Screen Video Decompressor; Microsoft Windows Media Video v7; Microsoft Windows Media Video v8; Sharp G.726 Audio Codec; Sipro Lab Audio Telecom Codec (Acelp); Streaming Animation Support; Vivo H.263 Video Codec; Vivo Siren Audio Codec; VivoActive Audio Codec; Voxware MetaSound; Voxware MetaVoice; Windows Media Audio Codec. Somewhere along the way, I've also picked up DivX 4 and 5, XviD and a few others that don't install automatically. The only major problems I have are with Real's RealVideo -- where Real prevents me from having a codec, to force me to download a Real Player that I don't want -- and Apple's QuickTime, where again I'm prompted to download a player I don't want and should not need.In principle, I believe I should be able to load any video into any player, ideally on any operating system, and as far as possible, I avoid formats that prevent that. So if anyone can point me to VDub- and/or WMP 6.4-compatible codecs for the Real and Apple formats (or a QuickTime player like PixLite, that isn't as horribly bloated as Apple's) I would be much obliged.... (I already have TINRA.)