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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It has always seemed to me that it's the outdated business models that DRM is meant to protect.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.
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.
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
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.