Not all HD content is degraded, only specific protected content.
At the moment this is only Blu-ray + HD discs, Some TV cable cards (I believe).
In theory DRM'd downloaded WMV's could also use it but they currently don't.
All other HD files, including your WMVs mentioned, are not affected, and do not have to have an encrypted path / downgraded resolution.
That is not to say you may still have issues playing them, but in this case they would probably be driver related, not content protection related.
For the second question, yes I've dual booted.
I used an OEM version of home premium, and on installation it gave me the option of installing onto a different partition / disk.
Businesses have always been conservative about moving to new versions of Windows (or any software for that matter).
I've heard the same about
3.1 -> 95
NT4->W2000
W2000 -> XP
etc...
How is this any different?
Vista will be adopted by businesses as part of their replacement cycle.
By the time Win 7 comes along Vista will be well established
Apple released cross product applications as a way to democratize other markets.
Not sure what you mean here, Apple is about making money just like MS.
For example, Apple wanted to sell music players, but much of the desktop market (the route by which users got music to the device) was strongly leaning towards WMP format due to MS's lock in. So Apple made iTunes cross-platform as a partial counter to MS's dominance. Surely you've got that the wrong way round, Apple dominates the MP3 player market. The move to port iTunes to Windows was to sell more iPods and dominate it more.
They would be perfectly free to license MS's WMP technology if they wanted.
It is very similar to the way they treat their OS, it is a vertical solution that bypasses MS's monopoly. I've never seen that spin put on it.
How do you explain apple only allowing OSX to run on Apple hardware?
Surely licensing OSX on third party hardware would be a better way of breaking MS's monopoly.
Again, it's about making money
The same is true for Quicktime and Safari. You suggest iPhoto and you might be correct to do so since MS is trying to take over the image market with bundled HDP tools and OS support for it. It is entirely possible Apple could release a version of iPhoto, perhaps even with deals to bundle it with cameras from third parties. Other possibilities include iCal and iChat to fight exchange and MSN.
As Guttman was claiming that this content protection would de-stabilize your computer even if you never played protected content, this seems to have been refuted.
i.e. Driver revocation, tilt bits, image constricting and encrypting the PCIe bus only happen when you play premium content, and can only affect the content being played. If you're worried about all this don't play HD-DVD's on your PC, play them on your 50 USD Chinese HD-DVD player.
Ideas that your graphics card can be turned off remotely by Redmond, or that accidentally playing a web page with 'protected' content in the background will cause medical images to be degraded are plain incorrect.
Concerns about Audio and Video editing in Vista are unfounded as their content is unprotected and will not go through the protected video path. And if AAC is properly cracked then HDDecrypter.exe is unlikely to use a protected video path / HDCP montior is it?
Points about this open source graphics drivers are a bit more ambiguous, but it seemed graphics drivers were moving towards a closed source model anyway. And there is nothing stopping graphics manufacturers from producing non-HD-capable cards for the business market so it isn't going to drive up all hardware prices.
Having said this, *if* you want to play protected content legally then I think there will be pain.
People will be frustrated by the graphics card and monitor compatibility, and there is every chance that the 'Protected Video Path' will not work as smoothly as intended. Even now HDCP is causing problems with standalone players. And even if it all works concerns that you are no longer trusted on your own computer are valid.
However you can quite happily use Vista and not be affected by the 'content protection' at all. If you thought Microsoft was going to be able to stop the draconian restrictions on HD-DVD then the think again - their biggest market is in standalone players rather than people playing the movies on their PCs so they could do without Microsoft if they desired. I don't believe Apple will be immune, although they'll probably roll it out on new iMac's and rely on its physical design to
In conclusion, there are issues with the DRM in Vista but if you never play protected content you will never experience them.
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Not all HD content is degraded, only specific protected content. At the moment this is only Blu-ray + HD discs, Some TV cable cards (I believe). In theory DRM'd downloaded WMV's could also use it but they currently don't. All other HD files, including your WMVs mentioned, are not affected, and do not have to have an encrypted path / downgraded resolution. That is not to say you may still have issues playing them, but in this case they would probably be driver related, not content protection related. For the second question, yes I've dual booted. I used an OEM version of home premium, and on installation it gave me the option of installing onto a different partition / disk.
Businesses have always been conservative about moving to new versions of Windows (or any software for that matter). I've heard the same about 3.1 -> 95 NT4->W2000 W2000 -> XP etc... How is this any different? Vista will be adopted by businesses as part of their replacement cycle. By the time Win 7 comes along Vista will be well established
Apple released cross product applications as a way to democratize other markets.
Not sure what you mean here, Apple is about making money just like MS. For example, Apple wanted to sell music players, but much of the desktop market (the route by which users got music to the device) was strongly leaning towards WMP format due to MS's lock in. So Apple made iTunes cross-platform as a partial counter to MS's dominance. Surely you've got that the wrong way round, Apple dominates the MP3 player market. The move to port iTunes to Windows was to sell more iPods and dominate it more. They would be perfectly free to license MS's WMP technology if they wanted. It is very similar to the way they treat their OS, it is a vertical solution that bypasses MS's monopoly. I've never seen that spin put on it. How do you explain apple only allowing OSX to run on Apple hardware? Surely licensing OSX on third party hardware would be a better way of breaking MS's monopoly. Again, it's about making moneyThe same is true for Quicktime and Safari. You suggest iPhoto and you might be correct to do so since MS is trying to take over the image market with bundled HDP tools and OS support for it. It is entirely possible Apple could release a version of iPhoto, perhaps even with deals to bundle it with cameras from third parties. Other possibilities include iCal and iChat to fight exchange and MSN.
Only if it would sell more Macs....It's up to the application that plays the media to turn this all on.
So for HD-DVDs PowerDVD would request the protected pathway, whereas Adobe Premier woudn't.
Your absolutely right, what are the chances of someone testing a medical application like this before releasing it?
As Guttman was claiming that this content protection would de-stabilize your computer even if you never played protected content, this seems to have been refuted.
i.e.
Driver revocation, tilt bits, image constricting and encrypting the PCIe bus only happen when you play premium content, and can only affect the content being played. If you're worried about all this don't play HD-DVD's on your PC, play them on your 50 USD Chinese HD-DVD player.
Ideas that your graphics card can be turned off remotely by Redmond, or that accidentally playing a web page with 'protected' content in the background will cause medical images to be degraded are plain incorrect.
Concerns about Audio and Video editing in Vista are unfounded as their content is unprotected and will not go through the protected video path. And if AAC is properly cracked then HDDecrypter.exe is unlikely to use a protected video path / HDCP montior is it?
Points about this open source graphics drivers are a bit more ambiguous, but it seemed graphics drivers were moving towards a closed source model anyway. And there is nothing stopping graphics manufacturers from producing non-HD-capable cards for the business market so it isn't going to drive up all hardware prices.
Having said this, *if* you want to play protected content legally then I think there will be pain.
People will be frustrated by the graphics card and monitor compatibility, and there is every chance that the 'Protected Video Path' will not work as smoothly as intended. Even now HDCP is causing problems with standalone players. And even if it all works concerns that you are no longer trusted on your own computer are valid.
However you can quite happily use Vista and not be affected by the 'content protection' at all.
If you thought Microsoft was going to be able to stop the draconian restrictions on HD-DVD then the think again - their biggest market is in standalone players rather than people playing the movies on their PCs so they could do without Microsoft if they desired. I don't believe Apple will be immune, although they'll probably roll it out on new iMac's and rely on its physical design to
In conclusion, there are issues with the DRM in Vista but if you never play protected content you will never experience them.