Windows Vista Content Protection is a bad thing

Whatever...

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Rasheed
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Windows Vista Content Protection is a bad thing

Post by Rasheed »

Please, read this article:

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/p ... a_cost.txt

If you're an independent content producer, wanting to produce HD content, you're probably out of luck when Vista becomes popular for watching such content (via a wireless link between the computer and the home theater, which will be the big thing of 2007).

This is very bad news and it does nothing to prevent pirates from stealing your content.

And BTW, according to this article, at this moment, it is not possible to watch HD-DVD or Blue-Ray content on your computer, whatever the manufacturer claims. Furthermore, even non-Vista users (Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, etc.) will feel the effects of this, because hardware manufacturers have to implement what Microsoft tells them to implement, or suffer the consequences of low sales of their products.
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rylleman
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Post by rylleman »

How can you use a system like that in production? You won't have control over your own stuff...
I'm going to learn linux one of these days.
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jahnocli
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Post by jahnocli »

Wow. Vista will eat itself...
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
The400th
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Post by The400th »

I showed this to a friend who's actually programming games on Vista - he said that while parts of it are technically true, the conclusions are all wrong.

Don't worry, it's not going to affect the likes of us.
Genete
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Post by Genete »

Since 7 or 8 years I don't take care about Microsoft Windows and any of their "optimized to Windows" software or hardware. I'm free to select any of free of charge stable and customizable linux distributions that exists nowdays.
I think It is time to consider linux like an option against the closed software.
Open formats are the future and is not incompatible with windows linux, mac or what else other OS.

Also manufacturers mus consider that Windows is not the only software used by the cinema industry, In fact many of the film producersuse specific linux boxes to their own production. So soon or later HD-DVD or Blue Ray drivers will be written to linux and other OS.
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Rasheed
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Post by Rasheed »

Genete wrote:Also manufacturers mus consider that Windows is not the only software used by the cinema industry, In fact many of the film producersuse specific linux boxes to their own production. So soon or later HD-DVD or Blue Ray drivers will be written to linux and other OS.
I think you're missing the point here. Anyone doing business with Microsoft has to sign a NDA, which prevents the manufacturers from giving the info to create open source drivers. MS isn't going to allow pirates to use Linux to make their content protection efforts worthless.

No really, this is bad news for content creators, unless you have deep pockets, like the big studios. If you want your HD content to be playable on Windows Vista PC's, you'll need to do business with Microsoft, just like you'll need to do business with Apple to get your copy protected downloadable music on iPods.

Microsoft simply wants to own the downloadable HD video market, in case HD-DVD and Blue-Ray are not adopted by the general public (which is a distinct possibility). At the moment, this is not really possible, but in the future, optical cabling will make this a reality. Microsoft is thinking long term here.

And if this is the way to kill off Open Source, MS wouldn't shed a single tear.
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Rasheed
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Post by Rasheed »

I have been posting a similar post on the Maccast forum (see here), and someone responded with a Wikipedia article quoting from an open letter in the Homebrew Computer Club newsletter, written by a certain William Henry Gates III (we all know as Bill Gates) at Februari 3, 1976, in which he utters his dismay with the then normal practice of copying software without paying for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists

I think this is why Microsoft is such a great defender of DRM and why this ultimate attempt to control what people can do with their software once they've bought it.

I also think that this letter is why we have open source software nowadays. Then and there was a watershed between people who believe you have to pay for everything, even if it is crapware, and people who believe you only have to pay for service and let the software be free and be open source to prevent it becoming crapware. The watershed between making money and making better software.

Perhaps with Vista we're seeing the beginning of the end of Windows. I doubt if there will be ever a next version of Windows, other than service packs.
The400th
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Post by The400th »

Perhaps with Vista we're seeing the beginning of the end of Windows. I doubt if there will be ever a next version of Windows, other than service packs.
I remember the same things being said about XP 7 years ago...

:lol:
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Rasheed
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Post by Rasheed »

Sure, but operating systems are getting more complex and code needs to be written by a select group of human beings. Even Apple has announced that they are slowing down the pace of new OS releases. And that is a curious statement from a company that has been selling updates as new releases, and letting the customers pay for it.
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

It sounds like another conspiracy theory to me.

Reading that thing sounds so ridiculously awful it is hard to believe. What they are saying is that MS will absolutely totally cripple all computers high definition features for everyone just to protect the big boys content. This doesn't make any sense at all.

I don't care what anyone says. Apple WILL NOT go along with this, and the content providers will go along with Apple just like they did when Jobs refused to change pricing on iTunes.

Apple's iTunes servers suffered over the holidays because of a 400% increase in traffic from last year. I think Apple still has some clout when it comes to content delivery and presentation on your home computer.

Any one can sell on iTunes. You don't need to pay a truckload of money. It just requires some "paperwork". My cousin is an "independent" singer/songwriter with his own "label". His stuff is on iTunes. I asked him about it (knowing he is almost as broke as I am) and he said it didn't cost him anything and he has sold some CDs there AND It is copy protected. Keep in mind Apple decides if it's good enough to sell.

Content providers WANT CONTENT!!! The more content the better. They won't cut anyone out just because they don't have tons of money. It is the content that makes the money. If some of this is true, I guarantee some venue for independent low budget productions will soon follow.

Google paid 6 billion dollars for YOUTUBE!!! The majority of that content is made by people sitting in front of their web cams.

CONTENT IS KING! And has been seen recently, low budget, independent content is VICE KING... or Queen... but Queen sounds kind of girly. ;)

I may be naive, but I am not losing any sleep over this. I use a Mac anyway. I don't see Apple handcuffing their systems because of any draconian restrictions MS puts in place.

-vern
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Rasheed
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Post by Rasheed »

I hope I'm wrong. Oh, I really hope I'm wrong.

If only Apple can convince Microsoft to be less strict with the DRM in hardware. Steve Jobs can be very convincing, I'm told. So there is still hope for a bright future for content creators.
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heyvern
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Post by heyvern »

Rasheed,

It is still very early days with HD over the internet. I think that Apple and MS will "do their own thing".

Apple can make its OWN agreements with DVD player manufacturers. What ever MS does isn't going to force anyone's hand at this point. Apple could make a deal with some video card company to make what ever they need. They did that with that huge gigantic flat screen. Had to have two cards to run that baby. They worked with a video card manufacturer to produce what they needed to run it.

And also there is third party software. It took someone like... a week to crack the encryption on the hi-def DVD format. So, someone will find a way around any type of restrictions put in place by MS... legally of course. By maybe witting a player that circumvents restrictions etc etc. ;)

As long as the internet is "free" the content will get there and everyone will be able to produce it and watch it.

-vern
human
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Post by human »

Do y'all think Divx may represent an alternative to these troublesome HD formats?

It offers enough compression, after all, to put HD-quality shorts on CD and DVD.

I just noticed that the company now lets you author Divx menus for interactive content....
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Rasheed
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Post by Rasheed »

I'm sure that most people will watch their HD-DVD and Blue-Ray DVD's with a standalone player, and not on their computer. It is just that MS has so blatantly capitulated to the Hollywood movie industry. The hardware manufacturers are hit the hardest by the move of MS. They have to comply to the demands that, in essence, cripples their hardware. This will make hardware more expensive for all of us computer users, because the costs have to be paid by the end-users.
The400th
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Post by The400th »

Don't you remember what happened with Region coding for DVDs?

They tried to make it illegal to sell a multi-region DVD player. What happened? The consumer demand for multi-region was so strong that people started selling them anyway. Now those players are commonplace.

There's not really anything to worry about. The market will decide what it wants, and it will get it.
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