04-03-07, 04:47 PM
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#1
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Eternal Patrol
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Aeoteroa
Posts: 7,382
Downloads: 223
Uploads: 1
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Windows Vista Hollywood Premium Edition
Why does Microsoft care so much about movies?
Taken from NZ PCWorld magazine
Quote:
Poor Microsoft! The convicted software monopolist had no choice but bow to the demands of lesser monopolists when it was developing its Vista operating system. If you want to play high definition DVD (HD-DVD) content, Hollywood insisted, you have to encrypt every single, all the time. All output devices – from sound cards to screens-must comply with our demands, said Tinseltown, and your system must check for external interference 30 times every second.
But that’ll add years to Vista’s development, force our users into unnecessary upgrades and add huge complexity and ridiculous processing overheads, Microsoft wailed.
Tough, Hollywood replied. And so Microsoft caved.
At least, that’s the scenario presented by corporate apologists. Frankly, I don’t buy it. But it does explain why that fancy graphics card you bought last yr wont play HD content, and why your new monitor and shiny plasma telly displays nothing but a blank screen. And its why computers and hardware upgrades will cost more in the future.
The hidden details of Vista’s rigorous enforcement of digital rights management (DRM) came to light in a paper published late last year by self confessed professional paranoid Peter Gutmann of Auckland University. His “Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection” http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...ista_cost.html caused an international sensation – not least because of its pithy conclusion: “The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history.”
In his analysis, Gutmann discovered that Vista’s performance, stability and reliability has been compromised in an effort to ensure DRM compliance. For example, Vista will deliberately degrade audio and video output as it sees fit. Underlying digital hardware must be polled every 30 milliseconds to ensure it’s not be interfered with – even when the system’s idle – and hardware functionality can now be revoked remotely. If a cracker in Bulgaria exploits vulnerability in the same graphics card you’re using, the entire batch can be switched off from DRM HQ.
What, you may be asking was Microsoft thinking? What place does all this have in a system largely used for business? Why not expend a fraction of that effort countering real threats like viruses, trogans and malware? Though it does great work in other spheres, Microsoft has never been a market place visionary. It very nearly overlooked the internet. (Bill Gates had to rewrite large sections of The Road Ahead because the first edition ignored it). Google has won the search engine wars – even New Zealand’s Xtra has dumped MSN in favor of Yahoo – And Apple is going from strength to strength, first with portable music and video players, now with the hotly anticipated iPhone.
It seems that Vista is an attempt to corner a mythical market. Microsoft believes the PC will become the centre of home entertainment, and when it does they can push right back at Hollywood and start making profit-sharing and licensing demands of their own. But the device market is fragmenting, not consolidating. You’re better off gaming on an Xbox or PlayStation than trying to keep your PC up to spec. Music and video are going to portable players, not monolithic boxes, and we’re watching the world on smaller screens, not monstrous HD ones.
Everyday 150 million video clips are played on YouTube. Last month the BBC signed up for three dedicated channels on the site. In the US you can download your favorite TV show the day after it first aires and play it on your portable.
Sure, there’s nothing like sitting back to enjoy an HD movie on a really big screen, but why would you play it on a computer in the first place? These days you can pick up a basic DVD player for around $60. It won’t be long before the HD equivalents hit the shelves. Even at ten times that price, they’ll still be less than one-third the cost of a Vista-equipped multimedia-capable PC.
Microsoft reckons you’ll download content in formats only they control, but is that really practical? Vista’s DRM was cracked before the operating system was released. A program called BackupHDDVD resulted in at least on HD movie hitting the torrents (though at 19.6GB it’s well beyond most users bandwidth).
Still, sheer monopolistic pressure alone may force Vista through. But US security consultant Bruce Schneier (schneier.com/blog) holds out a candle: “… the only advice I can offer you is not to upgrade to Vista. It will be hard. Microsoft’s bundling deals with computer manufacturers mean that it will be increasingly hard not to get the new operating system with new computers. And Microsoft has some pretty deep pockets and can wait us all out if it wants too… Still, if enough customers say no to Vista, the company might actually listen.”
Geoff Palmer
http://www.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf
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Im a big movie watcher for me its either stay with WinXP or buy a Mac. Forget Vista.
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RIP kiwi_2005
Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
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