<s>
ActiveMovie	B-Application
was	O
the	O
immediate	O
ancestor	O
of	O
Windows	B-Device
Media	I-Device
Player	I-Device
6.x	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
a	O
streaming	O
media	O
technology	O
now	O
known	O
as	O
DirectShow	B-Library
,	O
developed	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
to	O
replace	O
Video	B-Device
for	I-Device
Windows	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
ActiveMovie	B-Application
allows	O
users	O
to	O
view	O
media	O
streams	O
,	O
whether	O
distributed	O
via	O
the	O
Internet	O
,	O
an	O
intranet	B-General_Concept
or	O
CD-ROMs	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
announced	O
in	O
March	O
1996	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
May	O
1996	O
bundled	O
with	O
the	O
beta	O
version	O
of	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
3.0	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
ActiveMovie	B-Application
was	O
installed	O
an	O
option	O
was	O
added	O
to	O
the	O
Start	O
Menu	O
to	O
launch	O
the	O
ActiveMovie	B-Application
Control	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
allowed	O
users	O
to	O
play	O
multimedia	O
files	O
and	O
thus	O
was	O
a	O
rudimentary	O
media	B-Device
player	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
1997	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
announced	O
that	O
ActiveMovie	B-Application
was	O
going	O
to	O
become	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
DirectX	B-Application
set	O
of	O
technologies	O
,	O
and	O
by	O
July	O
it	O
was	O
being	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
DirectShow	B-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
5.2	O
of	O
Windows	B-Device
Media	I-Device
Player	I-Device
would	O
remove	O
the	O
ActiveMovie	B-Application
Control	O
icon	O
from	O
the	O
Start	O
Menu	O
upon	O
installation	O
.	O
</s>
