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Longhorn to Require Monitor-Based DRM
Mr_Silver writes "Engadget has an interesting article regarding a new feature in Longhorn entitled PVP-OPM (Protected Video Path - Output Protection Management) which detects the capabilities of the display devices you are using and manages how (and if at all) content is sent to it. In short, this means that if Longhorn detects that your monitor is not "secure" enough, then your premium video content won't play on it until you buy one that is. Who gets to decide? The content providers of course." From the article: "So what will happen when you try to play premium content on your incompatible monitor? If you're "lucky", the content will go through a resolution constrictor. The purpose of this constrictor is to down-sample high-resolution content to below a certain number of pixels. The newly down-sampled content is then blown back up to match the resolution of your monitor. This is much like when you shrink a JPEG and then zoom into it. Much of the clarity is lost. The result is a picture far fuzzier than it need be."
Has microsoft's arrogance finally become their downfall. Now they believe that they and thir corporate counterparts can do whatever they want and we are just supposed to buy it. I for one wont be purchasing longhorn and I find it hard to believe anyone else wouuld be subjected to having to buy more restrictive hardware to replace already functioning and capable hardware just for their shitty OS. More so, microsoft should pay more attention to creating a stable and secure OS and less attention in how to control the world with it and to make money for them and their hardware buddies. Its bad enough in a couple of years everyone will have to buy new TVs, whether they can affors it or not. I for one wont be buying one..I only watch DVDs as it is, and I can do tht on my computer so I'll just through my tv set on my congressman's lawn as he only lives a few minutes away. Everyone should find their government representatives homes and dispose of their tvs on their front lawns. Just an idea!
Apple has little control over whether to comply with this. It will be up to market forces and the monitor manufacturers. If they all start putting this tech in their hardware, which the article indicates is likely, Apple will have little choice but to comply. You bring up DVDs but the very fact that a DVD plays on OS X means Apple agreed to implement the proper content control in their OS to decrypt the disc.
Contrast that with Linux which never got DVD playback "legitimately". It had to be cracked.