Vista and content protection (DRM)

[James]

There is an interesting article here:

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...vista_cost.txt

about the content protection features in Vista.

[Sh4nn0w]

Good reading. Doesn't say a lot for the future of Vista.

[mirk]

For "BIIIIP" sake.... i did know it would be bad, but not that bad.

[cowpie]

THe media center/tifaux functionality in Vista is extremely drm'd, esp if you use a CableCard

[rtv]

There will still be many people silly enough to use Vista soon

[Marcusb]

I'm always surprised at the number of people who are so eagerly awaiting Vista.

Since they are so behind schedule they have basically removed everything about it that was worthwhile and only included the bad stuff and the "pretty" interface, but people don't seem to care.

Looking at this report, you would hope people would stay well away from Vista, but you know they won't and will flock to it instead.

Stupid people are everywhere...

[Paul S]

I was directed to that report, several days ago, by my local Linux Users Group. Since WinXP will not be supported for ever, it looks like Linux and MythTV will be everybody's best bet for future HTPC's

Paul
Media Portal user and MythTV user

[samuel337]

People don't consider such things when they buy Vista. They will buy Vista because of the pretty interface, the better security measures, the fact that its a new version, DirectX 10, because they're used to it and it works.

Linux has a long way to go before it will be anywhere as user friendly as Windows or Mac. One of the biggest obstacles is its community - nerds want to be able to fiddle and change everything to their liking. Average joes just want everything to work out of the box.

And john doe doesn't want to be potentially liable as a criminal when they want to play an MP3, or watch a DVD. They don't care about the legal issues you have to deal with, make it work or they give up.

Maybe they're stupid, but not everyone has the time to invest in studying issues such as this, and its impossible to expect everyone to do so.

The biggest threat to Microsoft at the moment is if Apple decides to open up its OS to all x86 machines. But we all know Apple won't do that.

All that said, I'll be buying Vista because of the eyecandy (though a mix of xgl and Aero would be the ultimate), better Audio control, Windows SideShow, tablet PC features, among others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature..._Windows_Vista

Happy New Year everyone!

Sam

[cowpie]

^Exactly, people didn't care about Windows Activation and this is just the next step. Very disheartening..

[samuel337]

Originally Posted by cowpie

^Exactly, people didn't care about Windows Activation and this is just the next step. Very disheartening..

I'm not defending Microsoft here. Nor am I an anti-Microsoft person. Its just the reality, and unlike what the net world seems to think about Windows Activation, it is not as problematic as it seems. Its not perfect either, but false-positive cases are low. No one out there will write a post every time Windows Activation works; they'll only write when it screws up.

And unless its invading my privacy (AFAIK it doesn't rely identifiable and decodable information) or opening my computer out to hackers (e.g. rootkits), I have no problem with it. Companies have the right to protect their software to usage within the agreement. Its a minor annoyance, and of course, we'd rather not have it, but there's nothing wrong with it being there.

I have not yet heard of a better alternative to the DRM and other forms of copy protection that's in Vista. And its stupid to say that DRM and copy-protection is not needed - we live in a capitalist society; we need to earn money to live. If its illegal for me to photocopy a book entirely, there's no reason why it shouldn't be illegal for me to digitally copy a document for someone else.

That said, the current DRM implementations suck, and even Gates agree, but no one's come up with a better, workable alternative.

Sam