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Translation of Macrovision Response to Jobs on DRM

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the worth-a-read dept.

BoboB-69 writes "Daring Fireball has posted a humorous, and accurate PR-speak to Plain English translation of Macrovision's CEO's response to Steve Jobs' Open Letter on DRM. Highly recommended reading for slashdotters everywhere."

2 of 284 comments (clear)

  1. that's beautifully worded by jessecurry · · Score: 5, Interesting

    and much more to the point. Why can't all execs speak like that?

    --
    Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
    1. Re:that's beautifully worded by encoderer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I agree entirely.

      Well, mostly.

      I'm not really against DRM per se, but I am against how it's currently implemented.

      In my opinion, if DRM existed just to prevent me from sharing my content with somebody else, that would be OK with me. As long as it lets me format-shift it to any device or future device, make self-destrutable copies for a friend that blows itself up, say, 3 days after being watched (like lending a DVD), and generally stays out of my way, I'm fine with it.

      Unfortunately, they can't figure out how to do that, so instead they give us draconian content locking.

      But what I _do_ agree with is that companies are now, for the first times, starting to realize it's not going to work.

      Who remembers SDMI? The Secure Digital Music Initiative was created right about the time the labels sued (unsuccessfully) to have the Rio pulled from the market. It was a consortium of all the big companies--MSFT, SONY, etc. Probably no apple back then, tho--and they took like 18 months to come out with this way to "protect" music and, I swear to god, it was broken in like days.

      The reason I bring this up are two fold:

      1. It was the first crack at DRM and the first time DRM was cracked.
      2. Maybe if it hadn't been cracked, things would be marginally better now. Just a thought, but maybe we'd have a single standard.

      Point one is significant because every time DRM has failed the makers say "We've learned from our mistakes, wait until you see the NEXT version"

      And now, finally, after hearing these promises from the likes of Macrovision, the industry has FINALLY started to get fed-up. When their hundreds of millions spent on securing HD content was just evaporated in the first few months of comming to market I swear you could just smell 1000 execs puking in their mouths.

      The DRM battle has been a horrible experience for both consumers and content companies. The companies, each go around, get their hopes up. They're psyched to go out drinking. They slap hands, talking about all the bitches they'll pick up. All the fun they'll have. They change their shirt 4 times and use a can of Pomade in their hair. But every single time, without fail, they wake with a serious fucking hangover.

      Meanwhile, Macrovision and the ilk already collected their huge development and licensing fees. To hell with the fact that what they produced doesn't actually _work_.

      It would really be funny to watch the content companies in this self-destructive behavior if it wasn't such a shitty deal for consumers.