Vista and DRM

Published on February 24, 2006 By Island Dog In Personal Computing

I have been reading some articles on the DRM that Vista will supposedly include. I would like everyones opinoins on these.

"Microsoft is taking some heat over a digital-rights management (DRM) feature it's folding into its upcoming Vista (formerly Longhorn) operating system.

The feature, called Output Content Protection Management, encompasses several DRM-related schemes. The one that's raised hackles in several articles and blogs is a DRM-related check that's performed when playing back video on Vista-equipped PCs. According to Microsoft's description, the feature "makes sure that the PC's video outputs have the required protection or that they are turned off if such protection is not available."
In plain English, this means that Vista machines won't be able to play next-generation, high-definition DVDs in their full, high-resolution glory unless they're equipped with monitors that support a new DRM scheme called High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection, or HDCP. "

Techweb article - http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/167101037

Comments (Page 1)

Urethramancer

on Feb 24, 2006

Hmm..will Vista refuse to use TV out for any of our current files without signatures?

bakerstreet

on Feb 24, 2006

There's several proposed DRM schemes. One of them is the DRM enhanced monitor that will simply refuse to show media that isn't tagged. Another that I wrote about recently is the built-in mandatory encryption that WE don't have the key for. No right to play the content? Your computer refuses un-encrypt it for you. That also means that if you want to transfer it over lan or to a player, etc., the computer can veto the process.

I think they will all fail miserably, and piss off more people than they help. Businesses will most certainly not want the hassles that are going to go along with it. Let them dig their graves, frankly. I'm tired of the dinosaurs of the industry, and I think it is high time they screw up and make room for innovation. I think DRM is exactly what they'll use to commit suicide.

Adamness

on Feb 24, 2006

I don't see how this can go foward as proposed. Vista is supposedly a media-friendly OS, but how can it be with such restrictions. Consumers won't go for it.

Y3HUDARTS

on Feb 25, 2006

Well, I guess I won't have to upgrade to the vista os if this gets ok'd!

bakerstreet

on Feb 25, 2006

"I don't see how this can go foward as proposed. Vista is supposedly a media-friendly OS, but how can it be with such restrictions. Consumers won't go for it."

People talk a good fight, but next year if a new Emimem CD comes out, and the only way to get it is this DRM, they'll swallow it with a smile. That's the problem with fighting the RIAA. In the end we will sacrifice whatever ethical qualms we have in order to get their damned bread and circuses.

If you can get 40 year olds that watch "American Idol" and 14 year olds yearning for the next rap album to forgo their entertainment for an ideal, you've got them beat. Anyone wanna bet me that they'll do that? If they really create a sytem that makes it hard for 90% of consumers to beat it, they'll beat us.

Look at ITunes, for instance. People should be asking why they have to pay a buck a song. People should be saying that if it is profitable for music companies to sell a CD with 16 tracks for $12, then they ought to be able to sell each track for less than a dollar, especially given that there is no overhead, no CD case, no printing liner notes.

Do we? Hell no, they've sold a BILLION of them. Worse, the damned record companies claim that they need to charge more. I think that is their right, frankly. If the price point is 1.50 or 2.00 per song, they should be allowed to charge it. The problem isn't their freedom to set the price, it is our weak propensity to pay it.

What I see breaking this is the hardware requirements. People faced with a huge media library that won't play, and hardware that they have to replace will be less likely to upgrade. Unless they get enough new material out, and enough to make us swallow it, they'll fail.

The reason I think it will fail is that most entertainment and games now are drek. Period. If this had hit at the resurgence of video games a few years ago they'd have won easily. Instead they are waiting until entertainment and games are stagnant. They'd better hope they can find some new talent and some exceptional franchises to make this go down easier.

HG_Eliminator

on Feb 26, 2006

my biggest question is .. what about home movies ? i have family christmas, easter egg hunts,etc that I have transfered to my pc.. they arent digitally signed and i dont want them to be .. they are MY property, made by me for me .. how can they tell me I have to get their friggin permission to watch them on my own PC...???? or that i need their DRM encodeing to watch them or MY pc wont allow them to be viewed??... it seems that they are infringing on my rights as a private individual to manage/view my own digital property.....

bakerstreet

on Feb 26, 2006

That's the big hole as I see it. It would be difficult for them to distinguish between an unsigned home movie and a bootleg screener.

On the other hand, I suppose with the kind of fingerprinting they have now they could scan the sound track from new media against a db of prints from known sources, and tag the ones that match. There is a swooby little program now that can scan the first few seconds of mp3s and suggest the title and artist.

Still, the db involved to do that with movies and tv shows would be immense and almost impossible to enforce as it stands now. Don't expect them to quit trying, though.

Adamness

on Feb 27, 2006

I think there would be way too many problems created for this to work. If the DRM is part of Vista, I think there would be way too much backlash for it to stay. I remember when Windows ME came out, and we heard nothing but grief from everyone. I think a year later, XP came out. While I doubt Microsoft would put out a new version to get rid of the DRM, they'd probably have to update Vista to eliminate the DRM.

bakerstreet

on Feb 27, 2006

The only trouble is we have a long history of tolerating LOTS of problems. Were it not so, none of us would have used Windows 95 or 98 for the years we used them. Look at the new Origami project. Look at the media centers coming out. I have a feeling that people are going to start swallowing the bugs in order to get the features.

Granted, there'll have to be a LOT more features, but Origami looks *nice*, so nice that I would even tolerate a little annoyance to use one. If they come up with enough benefit, like the frakking file system they have been touting, a lot of people would put up with their DRM.

I figure I'm going to end up with two desktop PCs. One running Vista and one running Linux.

Adamness

on Feb 27, 2006

There is no perfect computer, though. All the operating systems have their problems. I just want one that isn't intrusive, easy to use, and lets me do what I want. I think XP is pretty good for that. While Vista actually looks pretty good, the DRM is enough to make me avoid it. I guess I'll stick with XP forever.

HG_Eliminator

on Feb 27, 2006

il stick with XP until they remove the DRM.......

Aquamonkey

on Mar 15, 2006

il stick with XP until they remove the DRM.......

I'll just stick with XP full stop

GreenSkid

on Mar 16, 2006

Uhm, common now - the DRM stuff is to allow you to watch DRM protected content - please do tell how you will be able to watch DRM protected content on XP? Vista will simply be able to open locks that someone else has locked - if you do not like the locks then don't buy the locks.

Yikes! Of course you will be able to watch you home videso on Vista - whatever made you think you won't??!!?!

bakerstreet

on Mar 16, 2006

"Vista will simply be able to open locks that someone else has locked - if you do not like the locks then don't buy the locks. "

No, that's not what has been described.

The Trusted Platform Module – Creating a Safe Public Space or a DRM Nightmare?

"The whole point about Vista is that everything's always encrypted all the time because that enables you to enforce all these rights management rules," Anderson said. "The idea behind rights management is that the rules are no longer set by the person who owns the computer, but by the person who owns the document."

What price for 'trusted PC security'?

If you read up you'll find that the scheme seems to be that the entire hard drive is encrypted, and your computer decides what you are allowed to un-encrypt, not you.

"Yikes! Of course you will be able to watch you home videso on Vista - whatever made you think you won't??!!?!"

Some people, like me, are dubious that they'll be able to tell the difference between unlicensed pirated copies of media and your own, home-made media. Eventually most everything is going to be "signed". How do you fight unsigned, pirated media without hurting people's ability to play their own, legitimate unsigned media?

bakerstreet

on Mar 16, 2006

Here is another article on "Trusted Computing": Link

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