To all of you who are bitching about DRM in Vista:
How is DRM in Vista any different from DRM in XP? Or Windows 2000? Or Mac OS X?
The answer is simple: It's not any different. The reason is even more simple: Big Media is calling the shots, not Microsoft.
Whether the media in question is downloaded music, downloaded videos, or HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, it is Big Media making the demands. If you're a software vendor, your choices are to go along to get along (Microsoft, Apple, Tivo), do without (Linux), or face the wrath of an army of lawyers (DeCSS, 321 Studios).
The tools and techniques keep changing, but the principle remains the same. Big Media will burn down everything in their path to stop people from copying bits.
Re:Haven't we seen this sort of thing before?
on
Why Vista Won't Suck
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· Score: 1
No unsigned kernel-mode drivers. Video drivers have moved to user mode in Vista (and praise be for that!), so Omega drivers are still OK.
Yeah, something is out of whack. The spec sheets state that the 60 GB and 80 GB drives are 5400 rpm. That "Learn more" page says that "all" drives are 7200 rpm. But I can't find a page where they explicitly state the spin speed of the optional 100 GB and/or 120 GB drives.
The operative word here isn't "Brit", but "she". Python's humour has traditionally appealed more to men than women. In fact, BBC America ran a promo for Monty Python's Flying Circus that consisted of a clip of a sketch (I don't remember which), and the tagline: "If your girlfriend laughs at this, marry her."
So.. how many people are really likely to get the lightweight version, hmm?
Well, let's see what the ratios were between Office 95 Standard and Professional 11 years ago.
Microsoft has been producing tiered packages of Office for at least that long. And I don't recall Microsoft ever disabling features in individual applications based on those tiers. You either get the app, or you don't.
I remember reading somewhere that Stephenson's original plan for Snow Crash was a graphic adventure game. He had the outline worked out, but found out that the top "multimedia" platforms of the day (Atari ST, Amiga) weren't powerful enough for his ambition, so he turned it into a novel.
After reading that, I thought back to the end of the book and said to myself, "Ah, so that's why Hiro was carrying [spoiler] in his inventory!"
...by the time you get to part 4 the games two years out of date and looks vile.
You're presuming that episodes won't include incremental updates to the engine. Valve has already done something like this with HDR in DOD:Source and some new CS:Source maps. HL2 Aftermath will also support HDR.
In fact, if done right, new episodes could retrofit higher-resolution textures or models into older episodes. Remember when Blue Shift included a model pack that updated the original Half-Life?
Sci-Fi has no fear of letterboxing. Battlestar Galactica and the Stargates are all widescreen. I don't remember if Farscape was widescreen from the start, or if they switched a few seasons in. Heck, Sci-Fi bragged about showing Babylon 5 in the original widescreen format.
That "dashboard" comment came from the Engadget blogger hastily trying to describe Yahoo Widgets. Read the comments and the editor's note, and you'll see that it's good old Konfabulator, now with 45% more Corporate Branding.
...I'm going to quit my job and start designing a world that can wrap all the way around a star.
If you listen closely, off in the distance, you can hear Freeman Dyson ask his lawyer to write up papers for a patent infringement suit against this "bill_kress" fellow.
It was ho-ho-ho in the tongue of Valinor, in Sindarin, hoë-hoë-hoë. In Dwarvish, it was believed to be hô-hô-hô, but they never taught their language to outsiders. In Old Entish, well, let's just say it wouldn't fit in a Slashdot.sig, but it could be abbreviated hoooom-hoooom-hoooom. I dare not speak it in the tongue of Mordor here, but translated, it means "Bah, humbug!"
One issue may be that they can't bin the cores or GPUs.
(For those unfamiliar with binning: With your general-purpose parts, any chip that can't run at, say, 2.4GHz gets tested at 2.2GHz. If it passes at that speed, it gets labeled "2200" instead of "2400", and doesn't go to waste. The only chips that are completely rejected are the ones that can't pass at the minimum spec'd speed.)
In the case of a game console, there's no "range" of chip speeds. There is one fixed target clock speed, so the final test is a strict pass/fail.
The typical pattern for a new chip design is for the lower clock speed parts to arrive first. It takes a while for the fabs to work out the kinks that keep the top-speed yields low. Since the X360's core and GPU chips are custom designs, it's no surprise that it's taking a while to ramp up production.
It's easy to pick on Microsoft, especially in these here parts, but look at the evidence. Overheating power supplies, low chip yields, Perfect Dark Zero discs being pressed before the game was certified...
Having worked with several Windows developers (the worst of the pseudo-techies)... They probably had to restart a half dozen times to install their click-and-drool development environment, and it becomes par for the course.
Dear dotgain,
Yes, you did say that out loud.
Sincerely yours,
A clueful Windows developer, under the bus
A lot of the typesetting is dependent on the OS' text/font engine. According to Microsoft, Avalon will have an upgraded font rasterizer and text services, so Office 12 should be able to use those when running on Vista. I'll believe it when all of the stupid Zapfino tricks work consistently on Mac OS X and Vista.
Slashdot Mirror
To all of you who are bitching about DRM in Vista:
How is DRM in Vista any different from DRM in XP? Or Windows 2000? Or Mac OS X?
The answer is simple: It's not any different. The reason is even more simple: Big Media is calling the shots, not Microsoft.
Whether the media in question is downloaded music, downloaded videos, or HD-DVD/Blu-Ray, it is Big Media making the demands. If you're a software vendor, your choices are to go along to get along (Microsoft, Apple, Tivo), do without (Linux), or face the wrath of an army of lawyers (DeCSS, 321 Studios).
The tools and techniques keep changing, but the principle remains the same. Big Media will burn down everything in their path to stop people from copying bits.
No unsigned kernel-mode drivers. Video drivers have moved to user mode in Vista (and praise be for that!), so Omega drivers are still OK.
Correction. Vista requires HDCP support only for full resolution HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray playback, as mandated by Big Media.
That is all.
Yeah, something is out of whack. The spec sheets state that the 60 GB and 80 GB drives are 5400 rpm. That "Learn more" page says that "all" drives are 7200 rpm. But I can't find a page where they explicitly state the spin speed of the optional 100 GB and/or 120 GB drives.
Are you talking about Vista or XP? Because XP Home has always allowed static IP configurations.
The operative word here isn't "Brit", but "she". Python's humour has traditionally appealed more to men than women. In fact, BBC America ran a promo for Monty Python's Flying Circus that consisted of a clip of a sketch (I don't remember which), and the tagline: "If your girlfriend laughs at this, marry her."
That's right. Different Visio versions come with different stencil sets. Thanks.
Well, let's see what the ratios were between Office 95 Standard and Professional 11 years ago.
Microsoft has been producing tiered packages of Office for at least that long. And I don't recall Microsoft ever disabling features in individual applications based on those tiers. You either get the app, or you don't.
I remember reading somewhere that Stephenson's original plan for Snow Crash was a graphic adventure game. He had the outline worked out, but found out that the top "multimedia" platforms of the day (Atari ST, Amiga) weren't powerful enough for his ambition, so he turned it into a novel.
After reading that, I thought back to the end of the book and said to myself, "Ah, so that's why Hiro was carrying [spoiler] in his inventory!"
Thank you ever so much for sharing that.
You're presuming that episodes won't include incremental updates to the engine. Valve has already done something like this with HDR in DOD:Source and some new CS:Source maps. HL2 Aftermath will also support HDR.
In fact, if done right, new episodes could retrofit higher-resolution textures or models into older episodes. Remember when Blue Shift included a model pack that updated the original Half-Life?
Sci-Fi has no fear of letterboxing. Battlestar Galactica and the Stargates are all widescreen. I don't remember if Farscape was widescreen from the start, or if they switched a few seasons in. Heck, Sci-Fi bragged about showing Babylon 5 in the original widescreen format.
I hope the Wine team has a flux capacitor.
That "dashboard" comment came from the Engadget blogger hastily trying to describe Yahoo Widgets. Read the comments and the editor's note, and you'll see that it's good old Konfabulator, now with 45% more Corporate Branding.
Nothing to see here. Please move along.
If you listen closely, off in the distance, you can hear Freeman Dyson ask his lawyer to write up papers for a patent infringement suit against this "bill_kress" fellow.
It was ho-ho-ho in the tongue of Valinor, in Sindarin, hoë-hoë-hoë. In Dwarvish, it was believed to be hô-hô-hô, but they never taught their language to outsiders. In Old Entish, well, let's just say it wouldn't fit in a Slashdot .sig, but it could be abbreviated hoooom-hoooom-hoooom. I dare not speak it in the tongue of Mordor here, but translated, it means "Bah, humbug!"
So when did GGP post claim that it was Microsoft's idea?
So when did Microsoft claim that it was their idea?
Please explain to me the difference between "copycat" and "implementing a fundamental concept".
Ya know, I think the MPAA would be equally capable of fucking us whether the graphics subsystem ran in user space or ring 0.
One issue may be that they can't bin the cores or GPUs.
(For those unfamiliar with binning: With your general-purpose parts, any chip that can't run at, say, 2.4GHz gets tested at 2.2GHz. If it passes at that speed, it gets labeled "2200" instead of "2400", and doesn't go to waste. The only chips that are completely rejected are the ones that can't pass at the minimum spec'd speed.)
In the case of a game console, there's no "range" of chip speeds. There is one fixed target clock speed, so the final test is a strict pass/fail.
The typical pattern for a new chip design is for the lower clock speed parts to arrive first. It takes a while for the fabs to work out the kinks that keep the top-speed yields low. Since the X360's core and GPU chips are custom designs, it's no surprise that it's taking a while to ramp up production.
It's easy to pick on Microsoft, especially in these here parts, but look at the evidence. Overheating power supplies, low chip yields, Perfect Dark Zero discs being pressed before the game was certified...
"Deadline or Bust" == Bust.
Dear dotgain,
Yes, you did say that out loud.
Sincerely yours,
A clueful Windows developer, under the bus
Does this mean "Springtime for Hitler" will be on the Resident Evil 3 soundtrack?
But you're not bitter.
A lot of the typesetting is dependent on the OS' text/font engine. According to Microsoft, Avalon will have an upgraded font rasterizer and text services, so Office 12 should be able to use those when running on Vista. I'll believe it when all of the stupid Zapfino tricks work consistently on Mac OS X and Vista.