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Hollywood afraid of Microsoft

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the do-you-fear-what-i-fear dept.

prostoalex writes "Associated Press claims that media industry has been quietly avoiding Microsoft and trying to keep the movie and music industries to their own. However, these days there's little chance of doing business without Microsoft and the movie studios are afraid of digital piracy more than they're afraid of Microsoft. The biggest fear? Microsoft will use its desktop PC monopoly to charge Hollywood outrageous fees and basically own the movie industry. Microsoft refutes the accusations, saying that it's only interested in selling more copies of Windows and applications for its platform, and providing movie content would promote the platform. Also noteworthy that among the four video-on-demand services that New York Times reviewed recently two that got the journalistic acclaim (StarzTicket and CinemaNow) are run by technology companies - Real Networks and Microsoft."

4 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. If Hollywood had their way... by Agent+Green · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hollywood is generally the greediest of them all. After all, if they had their way:

    • There'd be no video rentals (i.e. Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, your neighborhood shop).
    • There'd be no video recording devices (VCRs, TiVo, etc).
    • There'd be no internet...because we all know about the evils of peer-to-peer networks (according to Orrin Hatch)

    So I guess they really have two outputs: Movies and FUD.

    --
    // Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
    // IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
  2. No real 'favorites' here. by etymxris · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Microsoft has shown time and time again that it's primary objective is making money in the long term. It'll do that through whatever opportunities present themselves. Now, the players in the movie industry aren't stupid. They've seen how MS has locked others into their proprietary formats and they don't want their revenue streams subverted similarly.

    As for MS's "noble" intentions...pure bullshit. Where did MSNBC come from if MS wasn't interested in encroaching on Hollywood?

  3. The enemy of your enemy is your enemy by FreeUser · · Score: 5, Insightful

    With MPAA on one side and Microsoft on the other, I just don't know who to cheer.

    Mutual annihilation (nuclear weapons optional)?

    If the Media Cartels and Hollywood mutually destroyed one another, we'd not only see the renaissance in software we've seen in the free software world accelerate even faster, we'd see a renaissance in cultural expression as well.

    Unfortunately the two are very likely to work out a sweetheart deal that destroys both and leaves us with nothing but a cultural wasteland in both arenas.

    --
    The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
  4. Re:Distro.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because in its long history, PGP has been hacked HOW many times?

    That's because the problem PGP solves is... well... solvable. DRM is the art of giving information to someone without giving it to them. Not just impossible, plain stupid. Now I'm as much a FOSS fan as the next (/.) guy, but I don't think it can do the impossible. :-)