more on Microsoft Plans For Automatic Hobbling of "Pirated" Vista Systems

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dana Blankenhorn <dana () a-clue com>
Date: October 4, 2006 10:20:04 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Microsoft Plans For Automatic Hobbling of  
"Pirated" Vista Systems

It is true that folks who don't like this Microsoft policy now have  
an alternative, in Linux, which is viable, and which they can still  
obtain without mandatory DRM.

Of course, they can't use anything but "pirated" content with it  
because DRM has become mandatory and the copyright industries want  
you in jail if you try to create a workaround.

This brings me to the larger problem in Open Source, which I write  
about at ZDNet regularly. The business model has yet to scale toward  
the mass market. http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=803

Instead of complaining about this, it might be a better idea to find  
a way where we can profit by solving the problem.

Dana Blankenhorn   dana () voic us
editor    www.voic.us


----- Original Message ----- From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
To: <ip () v2 listbox com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 2:41 PM
Subject: [IP] more on Microsoft Plans For Automatic Hobbling of  
"Pirated" Vista Systems


> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Warren Magnus <wmagnus () samespace com>
> Date: October 4, 2006 1:33:20 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] more on Microsoft Plans For Automatic Hobbling of  
> "Pirated" Vista Systems
>
> David Farber wrote:
> > Begin forwarded message:
> > From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
> > Date: October 4, 2006 12:34:10 PM EDT
> > To: dave () farber net
> > Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
> > Subject: Re: [IP] Microsoft Plans For Automatic Hobbling of   
> > "Pirated" Vista Systems
> > I don't always agree with Lauren, but on this one, I do.
> > There must be a few people in the Microsoft leadership (Ballmer,  
> > perhaps?) who have come to view their customers as enemies or at   
> > least peons who must bow down to the power of Microsoft in all  
> > things.
> > Microsoft sees pirates - and it blames its customers.
> > Microsoft sees pirates, and it lays a minefield in the path of  
> > all  its customers, to blow up anyone unsuspecting enough to walk  
> > into  that minefield.
> > Microsoft behaves, in other words, like any power-mad dictator  
> > who  feels the need to punish the many for the problems it suffers  
> > from  the few.
> > Is this the only approach that might make sense?   I guess it is   
> > when your management adopts a paranoid mindset.
> > I'd suggest an alternative: think creatively about how to  
> > encourage customers to see the value you deliver.   Stop building  
> > your  success on "controlling the market" and "lockin" that  
> > delivers not  new value, but instead late, buggy crap with a few  
> > features thrown in.
>
> Dave,
>
> This is the usual anti-DRM argument and frankly I subscribe to this  
> position in general. However, having lost this argument numerous   
> times in the past with developers of other software, customer   
> compliance with copyright enforcement strategies has laid the   
> groundwork for this and proven that customers are totally OK with   
> this kind of corporate behavior. Consumers apparently have no  
> problem  at all being treated like active criminals.
>
> For years, Adobe, Microsoft, and everybody else who sells software   
> has used phone home registration schemes and lengthy serial number   
> keys. Some software won't even let you install on a second machine   
> unless you uninstall on the first machine (Adobe, I'm talking to   
> you). Users tolerate this without complaint and continue to vote  
> with  their wallets. Users buy the software anyhow.
>
> Further, I expect that despite the capabilities to throttle down  
> or  even disable Vista systems, the mechanisms will be used to  
> target the  big piracy players. East Asian copy houses that crank  
> out pirated CD- ROMs and publish stolen CD-keys along with them.  
> Being able to shut  down the user might well limit demand for the  
> big mass produced  pirate copies.
>
> Setting the threshold to forgive small scale copying would mean  
> that  a family could get away with installing the same serial  
> number of  Vista on more than one machine. Microsoft has already  
> shown huge  leniency with this kind of soft piracy  with regard to  
> Windows One  Care which carries a 3 machine license that doesn't  
> check to see  whether there are really only 3 machines installed  
> with a single CD- key. Similarly the Student/Teacher Editition of  
> Microsoft Office is  very soft on the enforcement of the 3 machine  
> license limit.
>
> -W
>
>
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