TheStar.com – Business – Vistas legal `fine print raises red flags — FYI.
…for the past few months the legal and technical communities have dug into Vistas “fine print.” Those communities have raised red flags about Vistas legal terms and conditions as well as the technical limitations that have been incorporated into the software at the insistence of the motion picture industry.
The net effect of these concerns may constitute the real Vista revolution as they point to an unprecedented loss of consumer control over their own personal computers. In the name of shielding consumers from computer viruses and protecting copyright owners from potential infringement, Vista seemingly wrestles control of the “user experience” from the user.
Vistas legal fine print includes extensive provisions granting Microsoft the right to regularly check the legitimacy of the software and holds the prospect of deleting certain programs without the users knowledge. During the installation process, users “activate” Vista by associating it with a particular computer or device and transmitting certain hardware information directly to Microsoft.
Here’s the research paper mentioned in the article, A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection
Well – like the cartoon a few frames down says – the recommendation is Mac OS X!
If Linux gaming wasn’t so lame and difficult, ie Cedega/wine I would have dumped Windows by now.
On the other hand if osX86 was available for my HP laptop and if it fully supoported my video and wireless I would at the very least consider switching to it.
OEMs will never do it but this proves it is wat past time to boycott Windows.
C’est la vie…(sigh)!
I’ve seen a copy run. My reaction was you had this long of a development cycle and this is the best you could do?
The only real solution must be a massive user base move to Open Source / Linux. Only then will governments and corporations understand that catering to corporate interests instead of user interests is against their own good. I would hope Sony would be a case study in this by now.
bare with me, -my coffee is still brewing..
(random babbling to follow)
I fail to see why burden to protect media copyrights is put on the O/S manufacturer?.. should it not be the burden of the content provider & distributor only? i suppose Microsoft has been payed handsomely by Hollywood to install and enforce the technology behind all this nonsense.
curious, has Apple been pressured (or even bothered) to follow suite?
i’ve been a diehard PC users since its inception… on the surface.. looks like i’ll never touch Vista until i have absolutely no choice in the matter…
another thought… can i buy OS X and install it on any old linux box? -or does OS X look for some hardcoded ID key in the hardware or some such..
granted we all know Gates has hated piracy since he was a teenager, but it seems to me this could really blow up in his face. all it’ll take is some wise guy to write a worm/virus that trips up the copyright protections (like the Tilt Bit etc) to cause driver revocations & mass lock-downs to create some real contempt for the technology.. -and you know there’s a bunch virus writers licking their chops to do it too..
besides, who elected him to be BigBrother?
-time will tell
ok… enough of that..
-s
5,
Look for OSX86 on the torrents.
It works best on IBM Thinkpad laptops though…
Microsoft is trying to turn the computer into a black-box appliance. Like it or not, a great many consumers won’t mind one bit. Us computer nerds will be irritated, but until Linux is as usable as that black-box appliance, the bourgeois computer users will still prefer the restricted solution because of “ease of use.”
I bought two TiVo systems. I’m quite happy with them, even though TiVo can watch every click I make (or I can opt out of that), and even though they change the software and in some cases limit functionality when they do. They have yet to impinge on my purposes.
I’m not arguing for Microsoft or against opposing restrictive software – just putting some perspective on the state of the marketplace.
How can M$ get away with this, easy, most computer users have no clue this is happening. M$ is counting on consumer ignorance. Should be interesting to see how long it take user to wake up from their long M$ induced coma.
#8, gq, good comment. Most computer users are too constipated to understand the ramifications of the EULA.
Yesterday I finally took the plunge and d/l Linux. So far, no complaints. But best of all, no EULA I don’t agree with.
UP THE REVOLUTION !!!
@7: Why would any computer savvy person use Tivo is beyond me but is a good example. One can recycle old PC and with less than 100$ add-ons have MythTV box with more functionality and no restrictions/spying. But, give users tiny bit of comfort and they’ll trade their lives in…
@5 : For now Apple have taken at least one good step regarding HD content DRM. They have left it out of the OS and in the device . If the Windows have done the same we’d be on much better path…
#5, just another example that in a large IT company, you have two models.
1. Functionality, bells & whistles that the programmers want to put it.
2. Functionality that the Business Admins want to take out, control, padlock.
For the Business Admins, because of capitalism – the stock shares MUST double up in the next 2 years – revenue has to increase BIG TIME. So no more easy pirating of Microsoft or their affiliates. Rake in cash.
It was easy before to allow easy pirating – that’s what got rid of Wordperfect and Lotus 1-2-3. I’ve seen hundreds of companies, large and small, install illegally Microsoft Office 95 and/or 97.
Now that Microsoft has the monopoly, and stocks have faltered, they are putting the squeeze, excersing their legal rights, and using the programmers to enforce it through the OS.
Makes perfect business sense – they don’t care about lost MIPS.
And the programmers follow orders from….the business admins.
Microsoft’s legal disclaimers have bloated in direct proportion to Vista’s underlying software code.
Just like the widespread support for the so called Partiot Act, most people would happily trade their rights for a little security or in M$’s case, frilly desktops.
I see Linux coming to a computer near me.
#13 – Pedro, you don’t do XP (other than the laptop) and you don’t do Mac. You obviously haven’t even tried Vista.
You won’t touch Vista? You won’t be able to buy a new laptop w/o Vista, what will you do?
Geez, where do you get all those great technology insights you shove against me and others?
Or are you just having fun bashing older men who remember John Dvorak before he had gray hair and more of it? Must be this answer, because your non-tech related posts are intelligent, short, and to the point.
As for the ID in the Intel CPU’s, why, it’s so very simple. Use AMD + Microsoft, a Mac, Ubunto + Intel, or VM Ware.
Gate is now in “benefit the public” mode because of something he read about Andrew Carnegie. Maybe he’s having Microsoft subtly promote Linux by sending the more competent Windows users away. “Where the best go, the rest follow,” or something like that.
Yeah, that’s got to be it. Gates is being altruistic, he just doesn’t want to piss off his stockholders until he’s had a chance to dump a LOT more Microsoft stock.
Now there’s the Pedro I like! 🙂
I never said or hinted I was happy about it, just talking up another angle. As being normal MS has to find new revenue streams after years of allowing easy copying and distribution of it’s software products.
You don’t need Bill’s permission? Well, actually you do. There is no oversight. Intel caved in – they didn’t have to. Not because of people’s pressure, because of market pressure.
The ID thing was just one more reason to switch to AMD. That’s the key, Intel isn’t a monopoly, though it tried hard to be.
Microsoft, OTOH, is a monopoly. They even control the IT/IS of an entire country, S Korea. The oversight controlling Microsoft doesn’t exist in the US, but the European Union sure doesn’t monopolies and attacks MS and Apple.
Predo said: Smallest grief…out goes xp and w2k it is.
I like that reasoning.
To remain on W2K, rather than, say, Linux. Games will work, drivers will work, and for quite a few years to come.
Malware should ignore patched W2K’s, being written specifically for XP and then Vista.
Also reminds me of how long NT4 lasted. Many not-for-profit orgs still run under NT4. It does the job – why change it?
#15 Must be this answer, because your non-tech related posts are intelligent, short, and to the point.
Well, they are often short anyway…
I agree with you Pedro, Microsoft needs a wake-up call. I hope they’re getting it.
However, don’t you find that all those blogs, all those articles on Vista’s shortcomings, on TV, newspapers, blogs….
…or GregA bricking his computer with a Vista Upgrade. (sad)
XP was such a smoother upgrade / install than Vista is shaping up to be. There will definitely be people that will “go over to the other side” even if it’s much more expensive.