Veteran Microsoft security expert, Jesper Johansson, says he may dump Microsoft's Windows Media Center in favour of Ubuntu-affiliated LinuxMCE after struggling with Redmond's DRM (Digital Rights Management) software.
Johansson -- the ex-senior program manager for security policy at Microsoft who moved to Amazon.com in September last year -- wrote in his blog today that he may drop Windows Media Center for LinuxMCE after experiencing difficulties resolving problems caused by Microsoft's DRM software.
After Johansson's five-year-old child complained that On Demand, a US cable network's on demand video system, was not working through Window's Media Center, he attempted to resolve the problem.
"Upon inspecting the problem I found that the video would turn on, the screen would flicker for a second each of black and the video a few times, and then the Blue Screen of DRM came up. It also wouldn't play any premium channels," he wrote.
Johansson said the recommended work-around involved several convoluted steps, including installing Windows Media Player 10, which crashed, and then being advised to troubleshoot the problem with Windows SharePoint Services. A subsequent Microsoft DRM update then caused Internet Explorer to crash.
Johansson said that DRM software is not only ineffective, but a waste of money which damages businesses that attempt to use it to control the way consumers use copyrighted material.
"How many billions has the industry spent on DRM schemes that the bad guys break in weeks? How many perfectly legitimate users has the industry annoyed and driven away? How many lost DVD sales has it caused? How many lost sales of Microsoft's Media Center software and Windows Vista has it caused because the DRM sub-system randomly decides that you must be a criminal?" he wrote.
It has done very little to stop bootleggers from hawking counterfeit software, he wrote, after witnessing a bustling trade in it on a recent trip to Asia. Johansson is now contemplating using LinuxMCE to avoid further difficulties.
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Megamanx00 - 27/09/07
Indeed DRM dose not stop determined criminals. I like to play alot of pC games and I find it sad that lately I have to research what kind of Copy Protection is on the game before I even consider buying it. That said the more intrusive copy protections do not get my money and thus sadly I will not be purchasing Bio Shock. It's not just games eighther but with any application I spend my money on I will be detered if my research finds some kind of harmfull DRM, so I don't by sony USB sticks or MP3 players anymore even though they had such a good price on them at K-Mart.
If you do not like DRM you need to vote with your dollars. Downgrade to XP, move to Linux, and don't spend money on software that treats you like a criminal. The easy thing to do is to just pirate what you want, but the right thing to do is not to put up with that software at all and vote with your dollars.
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allanregistos - 27/09/07
Get on LinuxMCE - it is a great piece of software. I watched the HD video demo and it is very interesting. MS treated even legit customers as though they were criminals by default and then constantly watching(WGA/DRM) on them what they do on their computers.
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3
Ben Fourie - 24/10/07
Been using LinuxMCE for about 2 months now. Works like a charm. for example. My bluetooth dongle was a nightmare to setup in windows. I plugged the same dingle into my lmce system, and it just worked. no configuring was done at all. LMCE works like an appliance, not a fancy computer system. Everything is seamless!
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