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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."
good point....I'm so glad that we at least have one good alternative - LINUX!
I have to agree with you on that one. I'm a microsoft user, and I develop apps for the web using ASP as well as windows forms applications. But I am really wondering where the new features are. OSX has released some major feature upgrades almost annually, and MSFT hasn't. I'm also STILL waiting for the new Visual Studio, SQL server, and a number of tools.
You're also right about 2000. 2000 was a major windows upgrade, with such incredible stability and great driver support, that I haven't seen the BSOD or experienced crashes in a long time. But sine 2000, we've had to wait for a lot of things. We need IE 7, we need a new version of the media player, we need a better shell to compete with OSX, we need a better UI to compete with OSX, and we need a bunch of other things. I just hope they can deliver, because I really can't nor want to switch to linux or apple.
Reason, free market capitalism, and individualism
They are only "forced" to upgrade if they want to see whatever the content provider is trying to control access to. I think that is perfectly reasonable. First, because the content providers need to be able to charge accordingly for the things they are in business to create. Second, because that's horseshit and none of that will ever really work. ;)
What I would hope to see in this case is the subsidizing of the cost of these panels, but that might be out of reach. But you really can't hope that there are more lead-filled CRTs made just because they are marginally better in a few aspects today. The sooner we all use panels, the better. And the panels will get a lot better a lot faster. I think that we are probably getting right to the edge of what can be done with a CRT, but just beginning on what can be done with a panel.
A better analogy would probably be something with digital vs. film, Beta vs. VHS, or CDs vs. Vinyl, but I'm sure those are already in other comments and I thought I'd try out a new one. But any of those could potentially prove my point. Digital is the way to go. You gain some things, you lose some things. They'll make this new way that will stop people from copying things, create a standard that everyone will use. It might even work for a few years to stop copying, but things will catch up and there will be ways around it. Remember when you couldn't burn cd's? You had to copy them to tapes and play those if you wanted to copy? And it was less quality, but free. There, that's better. :)
The only reason MS software became so popular was that in the beginning, it was cheap, there wasn't much in the way of alternatives, you could copy it without much effort and it was fun to hack about on it (especially in the days when an affordable "IBM PC" based *NIX was a pipe dream whose copywrongs were still being argued about by old men)
The older "Windaz" gets the more it's becomes a complete pain in the arse to use. Shortly it will become such a royal pain that even the plebs will wonder why they're bothering. And down the plughole of history it will go.
Sadly 99% of people don't give a shit. They can't be bothered to think about anything (hey, wherever in the world you are, look at your countries government for confitmation) When they have to think about something they'll either give up and do something else or wait for something different and less bothersome to appear.
Praise Darwin !
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !