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Microsoft Acknowledges NBC's Wish is Its Command
theodp writes "Responding to questions about why some users of Windows Vista Media Center were prevented from recording the NBC Universal TV shows 'American Gladiator' and 'Medium,' Microsoft has acknowledged that Windows Media Centers will block users from recording TV shows at the request of a broadcaster. 'Microsoft included technologies in Windows based on rules set forth by the (Federal Communications Commission),' wrote a Microsoft spokeswoman, apparently referring to an FCC proposal that the courts struck down in 2005. 'Microsoft has put the requirements of broadcasters above what consumers want,' said the EFF's Danny O'Brien. 'They've imposed restrictions way beyond what the law requires. Customers need to know who Microsoft is listening to and how that affects their equipment. Right now, the only way customers know what Microsoft has agreed to is when the technology they've bought suddenly stops working. Microsoft needs to come clean and tell its customers what deals it has made.'"
Is this the place where those of us who loathe Vista as a bloated, DRM-ridden piece of crap that just can't wait to rat on its owners come for an apology from all those people who accused us of spreading FUD about it?
Just wondering...
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
That's old news.
Douglas Adams is often quoted with something along this line:
"Most TV stations are in the business to deliver customers to advertisers. The BBC is in the business to deliver TV programmes to people."
Some people are sheep. No way around it. But I'm not so sure it doesn't matter. People do change, and MS is getting hit, albeit slowly. Google has them even if they buy Yahoo. Linux continues to get better, although the arrogantness of certain distributions needs to back off. They no longer rule the browser to most. They don't have a good gaming platform. The list goes on--they're second in everything and bloated and eating themselves to stay alive.
I was a Mac user. Who went to Win98 and XP. Who saw Vista and thought, screw that. Seems to me a lot of people don't like Vista either, far far more than they dislike XP. And you know what? Before I buy Vista, I'd go back to Apple. Most likely I'll go Ubuntu (although Ubuntu has gotten worse, imo, since 6.04; either that or their upgrade process blows chunks).
I saw MS putting DRM in left and right in WMP. I started out not upgrading WMP. And now, I use VLC for most things.
I now use Ubuntu on my 2nd main machine (XP still is on the first). When I get the time, the Win98 boxes (which are just used to surf) will got to Ubuntu. When XP loses support, I am probably keep some XP boxes around, but I may only buy 1 copy of Vista (if that), down from 3 of XP. For the last 5 years, MS hasn't received any money from me except for their mice and keyboards, and the only forseeable purchase I have with them is for their flight sim game software.
I had been interested in XP Media Center for years. Never bought it. Why? As mentioned before, I watched MS add DRM into everything. Then I recently read MS's crap with dropping support on their DRM'd mp3s, and it is solidified that I'm not buying the Vista version. Now this going beyond the broadcast flag.
Oh, and Xbox? I love the Mech franchise. Never bought another game since since MS bought (and then killed) that franchise. Will never bought either console. I instead own a Wii and a PS3.
btw, people, stop watching NBC. That network sues companies for all sorts of crap, their parent company lays people off unnecessary to slim up margins, they have been hell when it comes to DRM, and now this. They've made themselves irrelevant with gameshows and abandoning viewers, so stop rewarding them at all. Hell, I feel bad watching SciFi, USA, or Bravo.
"things they have been able to do since they bought their first VCR recorder 25 years ago."
MacroVision ACP, anyone?
Yes, you can easily filter that out with a little box you buy for a couple of bucks if you're affected by it, but you're definitely viewing things a bit too rose-colored on the whole copy-protection front if you think that this sort of thing is new.
I've been a pretty loyal Microsoft user since Win3.1, and I'm a senior I.T. professional. I'm not particularly radical, I use Vista, and its OK.
.... - you're our customers after all. Being an IT professional, I can see perhaps there might be an issue keeping it going through system upgrades, or server upgrades? Well, how hard would it be supply music on the current store? Or perhaps there aren't enough customers to make this cost effective? I don't know, then you don't have to keep many DRM servers running to keep them happy.
.... after they made them bend over to develop new hardware for the Vista Capable logo, and then redefined the conditions so HP wasted their time and money. And then they were surprised when Vendors weren't developing drivers for Vista. To quote the MS executives, the hardware vendors 'didn't trust us'.
However, Microsofts recent performance has been pretty disgraceful, enough to force change for me. I point to three incidents - This one with the broadcast flag, the recent shutdown of the Microsoft Music Validation servers, and the release of the emails where it showed that senior management had no idea how to treat customers or partners during the months leading up to the release of Vista.
How hard is it for Microsoft to treat their customers OK? I mean, the broadcast flag incident shows they bend over for the broadcast networks, even though the networks business model doesn't even require this. Why do they do this to their customers? Obviously, the networks are paying Microsoft, but surely they can't be paying as much as customers pay for licenses to use Vista/XP. Why treat your greatest revenue stream like a POS - like they're stupid?
With regard to the Music Server incident, a number of customers have paid for music, these are valuable customers again, and they are having their servers shut down so they can't play their music beyond their next upgrade/reinstall. How low is that. I mean, how much more poorly can you treat your customers. How hard is it for Microsoft to keep a few servers running to validate that music, to say to the customers, look, we'll keep this going as a sign that we give a
As for the emails, I don't know where to begin. They treated HP like
It really pains me to use Vista after reading this stuff. This isn't a complaint about Vista or whatever, its an OK operating system, its a lot easier to use than any Linux variant, and I find it stable now. But I can't keep using it beyond my current hardware iteration. I'll keep using it at work, but from a moral point of view, I just can't keep using it personally. You just can't keep treating people like that, and I feel like a gullible fool giving Microsoft more money. I am pleased that there are alternatives at last, be it Apple or a future Linux that will be more innovative and user friendly by the time my current hardware dies.
which is totally what she said
Long ago when cable TV was new, part of the draw of cable TV was "commercial free!" and signal clarity. Well, there was nothing wrong with the signals we got over the air until cable lobbied to have the RF power of TV stations lowered and the commercial-free thing didn't last long either.
Of course, the internet was not created to be yet another form of advertising media, but that is what it has become and somehow people actually believe that is what it's there for -- they don't see it as a corruption of its original intent.
I bought some DVDs over the weekend only to find that the first 5, unskippable, minutes were advertisements for other things.
Why should I have to pay for advertisements being shoved in my face?
I once worked for a weekly news rag and we fought spam hard. Meanwhile, our own sales people were constantly pushing and stepping over the line when it came to their own email behaviors. As a company that is all about advertisement, you'd think they'd be more sympathetic to the "needs of the other marketers" out there. But in their defense, I suppose, they published a paper and didn't shove it down anyone's throat... and it was a free paper too, so no one actually paid to see these ads. (This is about as legitimate as it can get) Eve so, I couldn't stand working there any longer so I don't. I hate marketing. It simply corrupts everything it touches.
...they'll find something else to record it with
You spend over a hundred dollars to upgrade a product, it won't work as advertised, and than just just say "oh well I'll download it?" That's not how I would react.
No, if you bought Vista because of the commercials that tell you how it's a "mddia center" and you find out that your "media center" won't work, you're going to be pissed.
And "something else to record it with" includes Linux (or other UNIX clone like Apple or Be) and MythTV.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
"Microsoft has to program for more then one country you know."
And it's *SO* difficult to write code to conditionalize behaviour based on locale, right? It's not like there's something in the OS that tells the computer which country it's in.
"In Canada we see shows being blocked from recording using that flag all the time. Yes, its ok for a broadcaster here to stop us from recording a program."
Reference please, or I'm gonna have to call bullshit.
Google returns a ton of old references about Canada *thinking* about talking about it, but not a single instance that it's actually in use, but no reference to any law that was passed regarding it.
Your MS apologism suggests that the US is on the lenient side of what's required, when in fact it's on the strict side.
This issue has already been settled in SONY CORP. OF AMER. v. UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC., 464 U.S. 417 (1984) (http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/464_US_417.htm). Fred Rogers made a profound and compelling argument for the personal recording of television programs:
"Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the 'Neighborhood' at hours when some children cannot use it. I think that it's a real service to families to be able to record such programs and show them at appropriate times. I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the 'Neighborhood' off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the 'Neighborhood' because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been 'You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.' Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important."
Actually, that brings up an interesting point. TiVo, unlike Microsoft, is currently seeing subscription revenue for their services - they actually have something to lose if they start screwing with their customers. With MS-based media center machines, it's a one-off license deal as far as I'm aware - though I expect a company the size of Microsoft is forward-thinking enough to realize that pissing off people who paid once isn't a great way to get them to pay again, especially with what people are saying about Vista.
It really makes you wonder what MS had to gain by doing this. Were they paid? Was it some sort of weird deal to get content providers annoyed at everyone BUT MS for not respecting the broadcast flag thus far? Why is a multi-billion dollar company bending over and taking it from tripe like American Gladiators?
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Microsoft has come clean with its customers. Its customers are, of course, Dell, HP, NBC, and other computer and entertainment business plus the rest of the Fortune 500. Any home user is NOT a customer of Microsoft, or at least not one Microsoft wishes to have as a customer. Assuming the end user is Microsoft's customer leads to all kinds of logical dilemas. When you realize they are not then Microsoft's actions appear much more logical and customer focused and supporting.
yep, I got a C&D letter from my ISP for grabbing Stargate: Atlantis back when it first came out.
They don't care whether it's movies or tv or music. it's money they seem to think they're losing so send in the lawyers!
The funny thing is I *was* a huge SG1 fan, even had seasons 1-7 on DVD. I missed the first half of SG: Atlantis due to being without cable for a few months, so I just went online to catch up and figured I'd be 'nice' and do the same for other people in the same boat. I still have the downloaded episodes, and you know what? I've never watched them, nor have I watched SG1 since.
Left a really bad taste in my mouth so I'm doing the best thing I can...NOT watching them anymore. Of course if I was more motivated I'd write them a letter but hey...haha
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people