Where is the anti trust investigators when you need them?
Blu-Ray pays off some studios, kills the competition, and now consumers are paying higher prices because there is now no competition. That strikes me as a monopolistic practice (and result) if there ever was one. I'm sorry, consumers really took it up the a$$ this time. CEA should have stepped in before these formats were released to the public.
It's just as bad as HDCP and Component Video Constraint.... anything to confuse and screw the consumer! We need a Consumer Electronics body that represents us to stop this non sense, and represent consumer rights. DRM and format wars are ruining mass adoption of technology.
I'm surprised no one talks about the obvious. How much do they (Sony, et all) spend to engineer these complicated security mechanisms?
Millions would be my guess. If they would take that money and instead lower the cost of the players, and published media, I think they would break even. Shockingly the consumers might benefit as well.
It just seems to me that these companies are spending tons of money on these systems, that don't benefit their customers in anyway. Instead they have inflated their development costs, inflated their hardware costs, pay royalties to the encryption companies, and slowed adoption. And in the end the systems will eventually be cracked. Meaning the above investment is lost, and the negatives are still present.
Chuck DRM, and deliver a product designed for the consumers. $10 retail dvds, $5 DVD-Downloads. We aren't stupid, we (the consumers) know it costs you about a $1 to make a dvd. Many of us (myself included) think that paying $20+ for a DVD is to high, and of which the profits fund anti-consumer activities.
I just shake my head, it must be the director of "media security" protecting his job and department. How do you make a business case out of doing this to the consumers? Maybe Mom & Dad don't understand it, but little Billy is pissed that the new DVD can't be ripped to his media center. So instead he just downloads it, and never asks mom and dad for that Transformers DVD for X-mas.
It is a big deal. In a large corporation with a 3-4 year hardware refresh cycle backwards compatibility is VERY important. With custom apps and millions spent on other apps, you just can't dump apps because the new OS won't support them.
Until I can go down to my chain store and buy a console for MSRP or less, I could give crap less. As far I am concerned the Xbox 360 so far is a failure.
The only way to get one is to be put on a waiting list to buy a vendor bundle, where consumers are forced to pay for hardware and games they don't want. Or buy one grey market off ebay, risk getting screwed on fraud, and a gurantee screw on price.
I wrote an indepth article in 2002 for god sakes.. and made it clear that if HDCP went forward in anyway those of us with CRT's or HDTV early adopters would be screwed.. The industry was pissed at the article. Even more scarry was the blatent coverup by the industry. They knew that if the consumer was educated on the plans for HD content, no one would spend $5000 on a TV that wouldn't be able to get HD content.
I know for a fact that they kept silent, and were shipping products they knew would be useless in a matter of years.
I agree that MS makes $5-10 per game (non-MS Title)
I bet they make much, much, more than that when it comes to their games (Project Gotham, Halo, etc..) I bet they get $30.
Another thing to note is the Online Subscription. The Online DVD is $30 and at $15 per month per X-box, that some profit.
They already had the network infrastructure to support the online gaming, so adding a few servers didn't cost them much. You get a gamer to but a few games and a online DVD, and subscribe for 6 months (auto biling to CC) and they are now in the black.
They also make $$$ on other hardware. I personally purchased 6 additional controllers for my 2 boxes, I bet they make $30 on those.
They also make $$ on licensing, X-box magazine, apparel, and all the other stuff. It add's up.
MY guess is that between the controllers and the games MS breaks even. Online is where the profits come in.
1. If the government defines that X, Y, Z. Define an OS and anyhting more are considered add ons. Then EVERY OS must be made to the same standard.
Why is no-one throwing up their arms that Apple purchased the manufacturer of SpruceDVD, and now includes that software with the MAC OS, and BTW they cut off the PC users of the software.
How about Mac's movie making capabilities that come with the OS. Shouldn't we allow Adobe to sue Apple like we let Netscpae sue MS.
Just because MS has a majority of the market, doesn't mean we should force them to make an inferior product. If we force them to remove the browser, Media player, Movie Maker, Outlook Exp, then we should force Apple, BeOS, Linx, and others to do the same thing.
I can buy a Intel PC from Compaq running a different OS than windows. Can you buy a Macintosh computer without MAC OS?
If all it takes is MS selling their own hardware with their OS, and making their OS unavailable to other compatible systems... then what?
I'm not defending MS, I just trying to make the point that if you create a standard for the OS, and force a basic version, it should be required of all the companies that make an OS.
I personaly wouldn't buy a stripped version. I would however like to know why a basic install of XP is nearly 1GB. Where as 2000 was 300Mb???
Brian
Helpdesk Administrator Biggest Dilbert Company Known to Man
Slashdot Mirror
Where is the anti trust investigators when you need them?
Blu-Ray pays off some studios, kills the competition, and now consumers are paying higher prices because there is now no competition. That strikes me as a monopolistic practice (and result) if there ever was one. I'm sorry, consumers really took it up the a$$ this time. CEA should have stepped in before these formats were released to the public.
It's just as bad as HDCP and Component Video Constraint.... anything to confuse and screw the consumer! We need a Consumer Electronics body that represents us to stop this non sense, and represent consumer rights. DRM and format wars are ruining mass adoption of technology.
I'm surprised no one talks about the obvious. How much do they (Sony, et all) spend to engineer these complicated security mechanisms?
Millions would be my guess. If they would take that money and instead lower the cost of the players, and published media, I think they would break even. Shockingly the consumers might benefit as well.
It just seems to me that these companies are spending tons of money on these systems, that don't benefit their customers in anyway. Instead they have inflated their development costs, inflated their hardware costs, pay royalties to the encryption companies, and slowed adoption. And in the end the systems will eventually be cracked. Meaning the above investment is lost, and the negatives are still present.
Chuck DRM, and deliver a product designed for the consumers. $10 retail dvds, $5 DVD-Downloads. We aren't stupid, we (the consumers) know it costs you about a $1 to make a dvd. Many of us (myself included) think that paying $20+ for a DVD is to high, and of which the profits fund anti-consumer activities.
I just shake my head, it must be the director of "media security" protecting his job and department. How do you make a business case out of doing this to the consumers? Maybe Mom & Dad don't understand it, but little Billy is pissed that the new DVD can't be ripped to his media center. So instead he just downloads it, and never asks mom and dad for that Transformers DVD for X-mas.
I hope your joking...
It is a big deal. In a large corporation with a 3-4 year hardware refresh cycle backwards compatibility is VERY important. With custom apps and millions spent on other apps, you just can't dump apps because the new OS won't support them.
Until I can go down to my chain store and buy a console for MSRP or less, I could give crap less. As far I am concerned the Xbox 360 so far is a failure.
The only way to get one is to be put on a waiting list to buy a vendor bundle, where consumers are forced to pay for hardware and games they don't want. Or buy one grey market off ebay, risk getting screwed on fraud, and a gurantee screw on price.
Yeah I'm so excited.
I wrote an indepth article in 2002 for god sakes.. and made it clear that if HDCP went forward in anyway those of us with CRT's or HDTV early adopters would be screwed.. The industry was pissed at the article. Even more scarry was the blatent coverup by the industry. They knew that if the consumer was educated on the plans for HD content, no one would spend $5000 on a TV that wouldn't be able to get HD content.
- article-digital-home-video-2-2002.html
I know for a fact that they kept silent, and were shipping products they knew would be useless in a matter of years.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_9_1/feature
It's a decent article if I do say so myself.
I agree that MS makes $5-10 per game (non-MS Title)
I bet they make much, much, more than that when it comes to their games (Project Gotham, Halo, etc..) I bet they get $30.
Another thing to note is the Online Subscription. The Online DVD is $30 and at $15 per month per X-box, that some profit.
They already had the network infrastructure to support the online gaming, so adding a few servers didn't cost them much. You get a gamer to but a few games and a online DVD, and subscribe for 6 months (auto biling to CC) and they are now in the black.
They also make $$$ on other hardware. I personally purchased 6 additional controllers for my 2 boxes, I bet they make $30 on those.
They also make $$ on licensing, X-box magazine, apparel, and all the other stuff. It add's up.
MY guess is that between the controllers and the games MS breaks even. Online is where the profits come in.
Brian
What't the Deal with MSN? I removed mine just fine. Although there might not be an "Un-install" just delete the F**** exe and be done with it.
Ever notice in the Win95 days that AOL and compuserver files came with the install be default and were large >10mb?
1. If the government defines that X, Y, Z. Define an OS and anyhting more are considered add ons. Then EVERY OS must be made to the same standard.
Why is no-one throwing up their arms that Apple purchased the manufacturer of SpruceDVD, and now includes that software with the MAC OS, and BTW they cut off the PC users of the software.
How about Mac's movie making capabilities that come with the OS. Shouldn't we allow Adobe to sue Apple like we let Netscpae sue MS.
Just because MS has a majority of the market, doesn't mean we should force them to make an inferior product. If we force them to remove the browser, Media player, Movie Maker, Outlook Exp, then we should force Apple, BeOS, Linx, and others to do the same thing.
I can buy a Intel PC from Compaq running a different OS than windows. Can you buy a Macintosh computer without MAC OS?
If all it takes is MS selling their own hardware with their OS, and making their OS unavailable to other compatible systems... then what?
I'm not defending MS, I just trying to make the point that if you create a standard for the OS, and force a basic version, it should be required of all the companies that make an OS.
I personaly wouldn't buy a stripped version. I would however like to know why a basic install of XP is nearly 1GB. Where as 2000 was 300Mb???
Brian
Helpdesk Administrator
Biggest Dilbert Company Known to Man