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Big Brother Lifetime Award Goes To Microsoft
D4C5CE writes "Microsoft's ceaseless "success" in bringing instability, insecurity and
breaches of privacy as well as a deplorable lack of open standards to
almost Every Desktop on Earth has now earned them an "Oscar" for Data
Leeches, the Lifetime Award for
"outstanding mis-achievement" from the BigBrotherAwards 2002
in Germany. Microsoft's
Data Protection Officer actually attended the ceremony to collect the
prize (probably delighted that unlike the "laureates"
of last year's event in Austria, at least he would not receive live
cockroaches), and this unlucky winner took the opportunity to make some critical
remarks on the company's communications regarding the Windows
Media Player and Digital Restrictions (or, euphemistically, in his words: Rights) Management technologies which he deemed crucial for modern
business models, rather than acknowledging that it's in fact not just the advertising but the approach itself which is fundamentally flawed."
I love it... another article that's a troll: "instability". By checking out the links, it doesn't look like they have anything at all to do with stability. On top of that, anyone's who's been awake in the past 2-3 years knows that W2K is incredibly stable.
Bad articles are one things, but blatant trolls are another. Who keeps approving these things?
It has always seemed to me that it's the outdated business models that DRM is meant to protect.
Windows is getting more stable all the time. However, an improvement from 0.01 acceptable to 0.5 acceptable isn't going to impress anyone, even if it's a 50-fold improvement.
You conveniently chose to ignore the other two points, namely:
I choose to remain celibate, like my father and his father before him.
Huh? I think if you have an internet connection, you know who Microsoft is, and you have the logo burned into your brain.
They did the same thing when slashdot and others tried the Refund trick a few years ago as documented in the fine film 'Revolution OS'. They had a table with free coffee and a banner that read 'Microsoft welcomes the Open Source community' (or some such thing). The Theory is very sound, if you duck an issue you get pissed off people, if you at least greet a attack with some grace it defuses the force of the argument. It's social aikido. You just can't punch out someone who offers you coffee....
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
What good can possible come from such a negative event? This is just childish slander. Lets try to be more constructive in our criticisms and make a good name for ourselves (I mean linux advocates when I say ourselves) instead of spouting this silly nonsense.
Firstly - you're missing a key factor in the business model - Just about nobody wants MS Windows. I don't mean that most people don't want it - I mena that nobody wants it. Windows itself doesn't do anything except give you a file browser.
What people do want is Word, or Excel. Possibly Quake, or Kazaa, or maybe Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Windows is just a neccesary evil if you happen to want to use these other products.
Anyway, they didn't say that Windows was a lousy product, just that it was a "Big brother" product.
Look, making fun of Microsoft is like hating the Yankees. You can't call yourself a baseball fan if you don't live in New York but still like the Yankees. Just saying "They have to be the best, they win all the time, that's why I like them" makes you sound like a twit.
Similarly, statements like "if windows was so bad, then why do so many people choose to use it" doesn't contribute anything to the discussion, and just shows that you're trying to justify your existance in some way or another, and supporting a winning team seems to do it for you. But I'm not here to judge.
___
Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
They do really evil stuff now, when things are still going very well for the company.
You ain't seen nothing. Just wait until they get desperate.
I wish I were kidding.
Actually, the first MS link you offered makes several good points about Linux-Windows interoperability deficiencies. I don't consider these overtly biased.
Sometimes, it's what is not said that raises my brow. For example, Linux comes with thousands of free software applications covering every interest. Windows does not. Linux is and always has been based on industry standard protocols. Not always so with Windows.
Regarding the "straight-forward licensing" claim, they make it sound as if the use of Linux requires that you package up all your source code and intellectual property and send it off to an external server for public consumption. If you used GPL software and improve upon it, then it's not really your intellectual property. You're using somebody else's work to get the job done. What's wrong with giving something back? Don't like it - start from scratch. Whatever was yours before using Linux, remains yours.
You are correct in assuming that P2P apps are the reason companies are scared to invest in online entertainment. Especially movies. It is too risky.
However, the real problem here is that MS doesn't just want to make a DRM system for media, but a DRM system that uses proprietary extensions built on damn-near propietary laws. If the CBDTPA (or whatever it is now) passes, not only does MS offer its own incompatible "standard" for DRM technology, but this technology is inherently biased since the big media groups decide on who can and cannot make use of the the digital watermarking...
Anything is possible, and I prefer to be cautious. Anyhow, this is a TROLL article, but the DRM debate is useful, and I welcome more opinions...
Sincerely,
Rhad
Slashdot needs to interview Natalie Portman.
Yes, Microsoft and other DRM advocates will assure you that they have thought of these things, and they have taken steps to insure they won't happen. But to paraphrase Murphy's Law, if anything can be abused, it will be. In the end it comes down to this: how much is control over your own computer worth to you? Would you give it up just for the chance to pay to watch some movies on line?
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
How DRM affects the content of Gnutella or FastTrack depends on how content gets onto those networks in the first place
If a lot of people rip their own content and post it on the networks then making it difficult for the average user to do this could have a significant impact on the content offered on these networks.
If, OTOH, most of the files on the networks have their origins in a small handfull of cracking groups DRM will have no effect. These groups can crack the DRM and post the free versions of the media.
Eventually the media industry groups will realize they will make money and market share by offering a superior user experience and data mining the shit out of their userbase.
If there was a single website/network with the entire RIAA back catalogue available in acceptable quality, clearly labled, easy to find, and easy to use formats (I.E. not proprietary) you could see people flocking to it just for the guarantee that they could find what they were looking for without the hassle of lengthy searches yeilding mislabled mangled tracks and dropped downloads.
They will not be ale to compete by offering inconvenient, limited use, overpriced, restrictive media when someone else is offering the equivalent content in a free format and for a free price. A free format and a low price and a much higher quality user experience and content of a guaranteed level of quality is the only way they will win against the P2P market
they could charge actual cost for the downloads and have the system pay for itself. They could charge the cost of people's conscience (I.E. how much can you charge before the free/illegal option looks more attractive?) and turn a profit on the system alone. But this isn't where you make the money... you make the money on processing all the information about user habits to produce music that you know will be popular.
%PopTart releases an album but only tracks 2 and 5 are being downloaded? Cool, slash your Listening Group budget, and fire your image consultants- you already know what your singles are going to be.
For some strange reason that unpromoted band you signed gets people downloading their tracks in every city they play a concert. Maybe you should put them into heavier rotation nationally?
For some other strange reason this other semi-promoted band is heavily downloaded in Splatsville, IL and Goatshed, WY... maybe we should add those spots to the tour they're planning?
You can sell the service of working the data to the artists and albums. THAT is where the real money comes from... direct 1 of seperation from the buying public and the high quality of trending information possible.
Not that the *AAs will understand any of this. They think of DRM as a way to keep people buying CDs and DVDs.
Simple Machines in Higher Dimensions
For the same reason so many people in India drink arsenic tainted wellwater, they feel they have no easy alternative. Public education is the answer here and there. First people need to be made aware of the what they are doing to themselves. Second they need to know alternate sources are available and how to get them. The worse the consequenses the greater the effort should be. For software the alternatives are easy to come by.
Big Brother is just another voice that has recognized how bad M$'s software and licensing has become.
It is apparent that individuals and companies that use M$ trash will suffer. You might enjoy your mail being under the control of others, not being able to listen to anything but RIAA music, spam, continual format purge, and all the other joys of M$ software. Good for you. Others might not.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
"Funny how we never see stories like this about Linux."
A friend of mine has Linux (RedHat I think...) on his computer at home. It has an LCD monitor. He pushed one of the buttons on the LCD monitor and the whole screen shifted right like 50 pixels. He had to fly around all over Linux to find the right conf file to get that fixed.
No, horror stories like that don't get posted. However, it is a big screaming deal when decent font support finally happens. Heh.
I bet I lose karma over this post. It'd be a pity if that happened, though. Shedding light on Linux's weaker areas of the UI would, at worst, cause a few developers to react to them. It wouldn't make people flock away from Linux.
In other words: Slashdot could get away with a little equality in the way it treats MS and Linux.