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Vista Won't Play With Old DVD Drives
tlhIngan writes "From a developer's blog, Windows Vista will no longer support DVD-ROM drives that do not handle region coding in hardware (RPC1 drives) - thus preventing playback of DVDs that are region/CSS encoded with those drives. Not a big problem, as RPC1 drives haven't been officially manufactured since 2000 (and Microsoft claims their drives are all broken), but for those with hacked drives (RPC2 with RPC1 firmware), or move the RPC1 drive to new computers, well, no more DVD movies for you!"
Message to Microsoft, and to the content providers:
1) Our PC hardware is our private property, fully bought and paid for by us. Our PCs are not just a rented delivery platform which can rightly be controlled by you.
2) The operating system that we run on our PC hardware has the purpose of making our hardware do whatever *WE* want *OUR* hardware to do, and not merely what *YOU* would like *OUR* hardware to do.
If you want a fully controlled delivery platform doing whatever you desire and no more, then set up a subsidized leasing business and we'll rent the content delivery platform from you, at a cost far below the cost of private PC purchase.
In the meantime, our hardware is ours to do with as we please.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Install an operating system that does make your hardware do whatever you want! Microsoft is under no duty to make the system you wish for, they just make one they believe sells best, but it's up to you to decide whether you want to buy it or not...
When will our governments, and consumers, realise that regionalisation is nothing more than a mechanism of creating continental price disparity and deliberate market manipulation? It has nothing to do with "costs" but maximising profits by restricting parallel imports. It does nothing for quality, or support....
Consumers should respond by simply not buying anything which is deliberately designed to support a cartel. They are only ripping themselves off (The Matrix: US $9.95... Aust $19.48)
Combined with DRM, how many months will we wait after the release of a fully DRM'ed Vista with hardware support before a company threatens its users with an OFF switch unless they pay their $2 per month DVD hardware "licencing" fee, or your CPU/RAM/HDD monthly "licencing" fee?
Refuse to pay? OFF.
Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
llegal drugs are at least a big of a problem as copyright violation in the world today. In fact many of the artists promoted by Hollywood and the American recording industry include many positive drug related references in their scripts and lyrics. So the question is : Would you endorse forced illicit drug testing for all artists, actors and executives involved in content production?
Over 11,000 people die in America each year at the hands of gun violence. The USA has the highest murder rate in the developed world. So the question is : Would you endorse taking away the legal capability of all Americans to bare arms?
In the USA there are over 12,000 speeding-related traffic deaths per year. The technological capability exists to install a "governor" in every new automobile which would deny the driver the ability to exceed the speed limit. So the question is : Would you endorse restricting access to roads and highways to only vehicles that have such a speed restriction system installed?
( If the questioned person says yes to any of the above then pass the quote along to the Hollywood/recording/NRA/automobile media, bloggers and lobby groups etc)
Spam advertising and spyware has become a major problem for computer users. The DRM capability that Intel is offering to content providers would also be available to those wanting to abuse those same user restrictions. Intel is effectively offering the ability to hide malicious content or deny access to content needed to gather evidence for the basis of a complaint. So the question becomes: Why are you offering up this ability to content providers when it denies the owners of the computer the ability to protect themselves?
Whether it is a war on drugs, gun, or road crime restrictive and technological solutions that lock the end users out of the ability to make personal decisions perform actions are effectively a fundamental violation of a person's civil rights, even if taking that action could violate the law of the land.
Even though illicit drug consumption is against the law, wholesale drug testing would be seen as a violation of a persons right to privacy. In fact most American courts would not accept evidence gathered though such an action.
Even though gun related crime is a major problem, taking away the right for any citizens to bare arms would leave them at risk from criminals who would ignore the law as a matter of course.
Even though speeding is a major problem, there are cases it is needed for safety. Overtaking vehicles may require the driver to exceed the speed limit to safely avoid oncoming traffic. Also there are rare cases, such as transporting someone requiring urgent medical treatment, where the even the courts have found that exceeding the speed limit was preferable to the affected person's demise.
While making a copy of copyrighted content may seem trivial in comparison to the examples in the above three paragraphs, remember that Intel along with Adobe and Microsoft is talking of offering this same DRM technology for business, legal and even governmental documents. The ability to blow the whistle on suspect dealings, and pass copies along to the press and even authorities, may be severely restricted in the future.
So the final question to everybody has become: Why should the consumers and citizens have to put up with DRM restrictions on their general purpose computers that they own?
Well, let's wait and see, there is no telling what will be in Vista or when it will ship.
... I was looking forward to NT5 back in '95, but it turned out didn't ship until 2000 (as w2k) eventhough MS has promised that it would be out the same time as w95.
MS has pulled the "Wait for us, we're the leader"-stunt many times and I for one refuse to get suckered in by it any more.
I'll belive in the features of Windows Vista when I see it running on a machine, not a minute sooner.
-- To dream a dream is grand, but to live it is divine. -- Leto ][
The drive is not involved in region coding when the player does DeCSS in software in stead of cooperating with the drive about it, so all you need to do is use a user-loyal player in stead of a broken one.
-- To dream a dream is grand, but to live it is divine. -- Leto ][
BTW, buying DVDs from a different region is still legimate and not illegal, even if the DVD marketeers don't really like it.
Good point. I live in a country (Switzerland) where the MPAA has little to no influence and in which I regularly rent zone 1, 2 or 5 DVD at the local videoclub and have been doing so for the past 4 or 5 years and my DVD player (panasonic) was zone-free when I bought it (like all DVD players sold here).
DVD region coding is probably the stupidest ploy against consumers, especially at a time in which people can and do travel extensively around the world. Heck, you travel with your laptop and can't play a DVD you've rented once on the other side of the big pond? WTF? What's next, not being able to play media files if you're more than half a mile from home?
All these measures only lead to what's now uncorrectly called "piracy", because we want to be able to do whatever pleases us with the hardware and software WE PAID FOR, not just what we're allowed by some paranoid Hollywood coke-head lawyers. No matter what's said in their illegal EULAs (well, they're not legal here), once I've bought something it's my absolute right to do whatever I want with it as long as it remains a private matter, period.
Btw, downloading or copying stuff isn't piracy, it's not like we're robbing anyone, physically stealing property. The media industry hates us because of their so-called "loss of REVENUE", which IMHO may set a dangerous precedent. I mean, if they get their way, what's to stop them from litigating with anyone who simply doesn't buy their stuff?
"Hey, your shopping decisions harm our business! Stop buying from the competition right away, or else!"
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
I know Vista just keeps giving me more and more reason to overcome my difficulties with Linux. I want a computer that does what I want. Not some piece of DRM'd-up-the-wazzoo shit. (As an Australian I really dislike region coding).