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CNet reports that Windows next operating system, "Vista" (that's what Longhorn is called this week), will be designed with extensive countermeasures to prevent the owners of computers from using them in the ways that they want. These computers will be designed to break compatibility with current monitors, analog outputs, and currently shipping software, all to ensure that the restrictions dictated by enterainment companies are obeyed by Windows.

Microsoft is cutting its throat here. There isn't a single Windows user who wants a version of Windows that lets her do less with her music and movies.

Microsoft is also subverting copyright. Fair use and other public rights in copyright hinge on factors that can't be modelled in software. For example, people engaged in parody have a lot more flexibility in terms of how they use copyrighted works than people who are engaged in satire. The difference between parody and satire is pretty fine -- it's the kind of thing courts rule on, not the kind of thing that you get a computer to detect.

DRM apologists claim that DRM can be used to model the preponderance of fair uses, but this is completely untrue. Fair use almost always hinges on intention -- there isn't any software that is capable of reading a user's mind and determining intention.

So here come Microsoft, the great defenders of copyright, selling out both their business and copyright: creating devices that no one wants that models a copyright law that doesn't exist.

What's the use of having a swaggering bully of a monopolist if it can't muster the intestinal fortitude that Sony displayed from 1976-1984 when it battled in Congress and all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to manufacture VCRs despite Hollywood's insistence that these were tools of piracy?

In short, the company is bending over backward--and investing considerable technological resources--to make sure Hollywood studios are happy with the next version of Windows, which is expected to ship on new PCs by late 2006. Microsoft believes it has to make nice with the entertainment industry if the PC is going to form the center of new digital home networks, which could allow such new features as streaming high-definition movies around the home.

PCs won't be the only ones with reinforced pirate-proofing. Other new consumer electronics devices will have to play by a similar set of rules in order to play back the studios' most valuable content, Microsoft executives say. Indeed, assuring studios that content will have extremely strong protection is the only way any device will be able to support the studios' planned high-definition content, the software company says.

These computers will be designed to break compatibility with current monitors,

Manus Celer Dei wrote:

These computers will be designed to break compatibility with current monitors,

Um...how can what monitor you use possiblly affect retarded copyright shennanigans?

Manus Celer Dei wrote:

These computers will be designed to break compatibility with current monitors,

Um...how can what monitor you use possiblly affect retarded copyright shennanigans?

General Zod wrote:I don't see how it can either, but the fact that people will have to buy new monitors to use this operating system is going to alienate alot of M$ users.

Manus Celer Dei wrote: Um...how can what monitor you use possiblly affect retarded copyright shennanigans?

Hotfoot wrote:

General Zod wrote:I don't see how it can either, but the fact that people will have to buy new monitors to use this operating system is going to alienate alot of M$ users.

Warning, hostility inbound.

So what? Boo-fucking-hoo, a few people who know what's going on are going to get pissed. So what? What are they going to do? Get a Mac (which may or may not be getting on board with this, I've heard it both ways)? Convert to one of the 32 delicious flavors of Linux/BSD? Please.

Microsoft has a stranglehold. People might not like it, but do you really think the user/user crowd is going to give a shit about this? At worst, most of them will probably wait until the prices on the new stuff comes down, while the enthusiasts will jump right on board, as always. There will be a small portion of users who will recognize this for the bullshit it is, but by and large, most people don't give a fuck.

Seriously, all Microsoft has to do is stop supporting XP and everyone is forced to get the new system. It'll offer plenty of shinies, too! Nothing entices people better than shinies. If Microsoft really wants to do this, nothing short of a government intervention will stop them, because they stand to make money hand over fist.

[/rant]

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote: In any case, with all of this DRM nonsense, it looks like pirated copies of software are going to be getting better and better than the ones you pay for. Way to reward the legimite customer, M$

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:People will give a fuck if they have to buy new monitors. Even the average person will be up in arms about that.

In any case, with all of this DRM nonsense, it looks like pirated copies of software are going to be getting better and better than the ones you pay for. Way to reward the legimite customer, M$

Hotfoot wrote:

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:People will give a fuck if they have to buy new monitors. Even the average person will be up in arms about that.

Not really. Most people wait to buy new computers when a new OS comes out anyway. That way they know they can run it just fine. The "new monitor" cost gets bundled into the cost of the rest of the system. most people won't even notice the difference.

Sharp-kun wrote:Would you rather they didn't implement this, and then Windows simply won't play media using the new protection, or won't play it at its best?

If you don't like it, don't buy films etc that use it.

EDIT: Not buying Vista I imagine won't solve this, since if a DVD uses this protection, then you're going to need a player that supports DRM to play it. That means you'll have to get one, no matter what OS you use.

Manus Celer Dei wrote:

These computers will be designed to break compatibility with current monitors,

Um...how can what monitor you use possiblly affect retarded copyright shennanigans?

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:There should be a significant fraction of Vista buyers who are hanging onto obsolete systems, though, especially among the computer-illerate general public.

My decision to withhold my dollars does not affect anyone but me, so it won't hurt Hollywood. The government is supposed to step in if companies start squashing fair use, but so far they've stepped in against consumers. All that's left to do is complain and wait until the various forms of DRM are cracked.

Until someone figures out a way to make a DRM-free backup copy, that is.

Sharp-kun wrote:

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote: In any case, with all of this DRM nonsense, it looks like pirated copies of software are going to be getting better and better than the ones you pay for. Way to reward the legimite customer, M$

Would you rather they didn't implement this, and then Windows simply won't play media using the new protection, or won't play it at its best?

If you don't like it, don't buy films etc that use it.

EDIT: Not buying Vista I imagine won't solve this, since if a DVD uses this protection, then you're going to need a player that supports DRM to play it. That means you'll have to get one, no matter what OS you use.

Embracer Of Darkness wrote:DRM can kiss my arse. It won't last anyway, it'll either a.) bottom out from unpopularity, or b.) will be hacked by pirates and hackers (I predict one week after its launch for this.)

phongn wrote:

Embracer Of Darkness wrote:DRM can kiss my arse. It won't last anyway, it'll either a.) bottom out from unpopularity, or b.) will be hacked by pirates and hackers (I predict one week after its launch for this.)

Don't make me laugh. HDCP will not be unpopular -- every HD-DVD or BD-ROM player on release will have the required HDMI output. And the protection schemes in HD-DVD and BD-ROM are considerably more sophisticated than those in DVD ... and that's not including HDCP itself (which I've heard rumours of is already flawed).

Furthermore, you'll still be able to play these discs ... just at 480p resolution if you don't use HDMI.

phongn wrote:

Embracer Of Darkness wrote:DRM can kiss my arse. It won't last anyway, it'll either a.) bottom out from unpopularity, or b.) will be hacked by pirates and hackers (I predict one week after its launch for this.)

Don't make me laugh. HDCP will not be unpopular -- every HD-DVD or BD-ROM player on release will have the required HDMI output. And the protection schemes in HD-DVD and BD-ROM are considerably more sophisticated than those in DVD ... and that's not including HDCP itself (which I've heard rumours of is already flawed).

phongn wrote:DVD's security was poorly implemented, I think Sony/Toshiba have learned. In addition, CSS is quite weak encryption and is inherently flawed; no such flaw has been demonstrated in AES, which withstood scrutiny from the non-government crypto community and the NSA itself.

Darth Wong wrote:phongn, you made reference to a system which could simply rotate old keys out and new keys in (in an earlier thread) and I asked how this system could possibly work unless all HD-DVD players are networked. You never responded; can I ask again how this system is supposed to work?

Darth Wong wrote:phongn, you made reference to a system which could simply rotate old keys out and new keys in (in an earlier thread) and I asked how this system could possibly work unless all HD-DVD players are networked. You never responded; can I ask again how this system is supposed to work?