Slashdot Mirror
Hollywood afraid of Microsoft
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."
Sure they can't own the movie industry...but they can certainly give themselves a stranglehold over its distrobution resourcse.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
The suits who run the studios are so disconnected* from the techies in the render farms that such issues never enter their brains.** And to big-corp-think, of course, free software -- free anything -- is an abomination and unclean anyway. Understanding this, IMO, is key to understanding everything from the [MP|RI]AA's reaction to piracy, to Microsoft's reaction to Linux. In their perfect world, you pay for everything; more specifically, you pay them for everything. The idea that anyone might be able to get useful stuff for free wakes them up in screaming nightmares. This is not rational cost-benefit analysis. This is a clash of worldviews as fundamental as Galileo's with the Church.
--
* I'm not claiming any special insider knowledge of how Hollywood studios work. This is my guess based on my experience of how big corporations work in general.
** If they have brains. Or hearts. Or courage. All of which are highly debatable.
Remember a ways back when Microsoft announced codecs for use in digital theatres. I'm not sure of implementation #'s but this was when they could have staved this off. Trusted Computing, DRM are here because Hollywood was a huge proponent of these technologies. Here is your bed, Hollywood.
If Microsoft had their way there would be:
no selling of their software on EBay.
no ownership of the software after you purchase it (they really own it you just license it from them)
I guess MS has two outputs: Software and bugs?
I'll take a cue from Lord of the Rings here, and refer you to the suggestion to let Saruman and Sauron (the two main evils) battle it out and exterminate themselves, to which Gandalf replies: but the winner would get out of the fight stronger, and without doubt.
I think this is the case. I fear they would not exterminate each other, but most likely one would emerge the winner, and we the public would be the biggest losers. Better to let them stay wary of each other while we run an underground movement to defeat both opponents at once.
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
They used to render on SGIs before. The only point of FilmGimp and Linux renderfarms is that their profit margin is now bigger.
It has had zero effect for the public.
Sorry, it has had the effect that some software made it back to the community, so it has had an effect on a very small margin of the public after all.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.