Manage updates with the Download AppAugust 30, 2005 4:00 AM PDT
Hollywood, Microsoft align on new Windows
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linked to the computer, and through what kind of connection, and decide whether the content can be encrypted or otherwise protected over that link.
If the answer is "no," in the case of high-resolution Video Graphics Array (VGA) connections, or some early Digital Video Interface connections, the computer could shut down output of video altogether through those plugs, if the content owners require that.
Alternately, Vista will include a "constriction" feature that can decrease the resolution of high-definition video on the fly, outputting a version that is slightly fuzzier (about the same as today's DVDs) than the pristine original. This can be used as an alternative to blocking a connection altogether, if a content company won't let high-definition video play over the lower-security outputs.
This feature won't affect most HD televisions, which typically are already shipped with secure connection technologies. PC monitors have been slower to adopt tools such as Intel's HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) that support secure connections, however.
Most of these advanced copy-protection features in Vista are designed to apply to high-definition content and are unlikely to change the way today's DVDs or broadcast-quality content is played, Microsoft says.
Labels lack copy-protected CD support
A similar process will happen for copy-protected audio files, potentially encrypting the audio until it leaves the computer, and offering the ability to turn off specific outputs if content owners deem them insecure.
For the last year, record labels have sought additional features in the operating system that would make playing copy-protected CDs a more streamlined experience. But so far, Microsoft has not added any features specifically supporting these new CDs, saying that the technology isn't yet mature, and that other companies--Apple Computer and other music software companies included--also need to be involved.
"We're seeing digital distribution move at a rapid enough pace that the rules for which people access content today across the music services are very consistent," said John Paddleford, lead program manager for the Microsoft team that works directly with content companies. "This is what we're driving the labels to reach on the CD itself, so there's a consistent consumer experience. I think it is going to take time for the labels and the application vendors--not just Microsoft--to find a middle ground."
A spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, which has engaged in discussions with Microsoft on this issue, declined to comment.
Sensitive subject
Microsoft is aware that the high level of protection--which could result in some monitors and TVs not playing high-definition content at full resolution--could spark criticism and confusion.
The company is quick to say that this has not been a case of studios dictating policy to programmers.
"The studios are very good about not trying to design software," Paddleford said. "I've never had a studio say, 'We need an API (application programming interface) that does this.' But they do talk about, 'Well, we want to make sure that our theatrical content doesn't get played in any place but a theater.'"
For their part, studio executives say they haven't been involved in the intimate details, but are happy to see what Microsoft has done.
"The greatest problem in existing operating systems is that content is in the clear across certain interfaces," said Chris Cookson, chief technology officer for Warner Bros. "They've undertaken to improve that, which everyone was glad to see."
See more CNET content tagged:
content company, copy protection, antipiracy, studio, Hollywood
516 comments
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I mean is this what the users really want?
"The table is already set," said Marcus Matthias. "We can come in
and eat at the buffet, or we can stand outside and wash cars."
IOW Microsoft is goiing in to eat at the buffet, leaving the users to
deal with the mess (wash the cars). At least that's how I read it.
If I get an OS I expect that OS to play it the way I want. Any type of Vista Features such as content degregration and locking will be fixed within a month after release. A PC is not a vending mashine.
The good thing is there's a current competition to see which hacking group will fix Vista as soon as it's released. So not to worry.
I mean is this what the users really want?
"The table is already set," said Marcus Matthias. "We can come in
and eat at the buffet, or we can stand outside and wash cars."
IOW Microsoft is goiing in to eat at the buffet, leaving the users to
deal with the mess (wash the cars). At least that's how I read it.
If I get an OS I expect that OS to play it the way I want. Any type of Vista Features such as content degregration and locking will be fixed within a month after release. A PC is not a vending mashine.
The good thing is there's a current competition to see which hacking group will fix Vista as soon as it's released. So not to worry.
I mean is this what the users really want?
"The table is already set," said Marcus Matthias. "We can come in
and eat at the buffet, or we can stand outside and wash cars."
IOW Microsoft is goiing in to eat at the buffet, leaving the users to
deal with the mess (wash the cars). At least that's how I read it.
If I get an OS I expect that OS to play it the way I want. Any type of Vista Features such as content degregration and locking will be fixed within a month after release. A PC is not a vending mashine.
The good thing is there's a current competition to see which hacking group will fix Vista as soon as it's released. So not to worry.
I mean is this what the users really want?
"The table is already set," said Marcus Matthias. "We can come in
and eat at the buffet, or we can stand outside and wash cars."
IOW Microsoft is goiing in to eat at the buffet, leaving the users to
deal with the mess (wash the cars). At least that's how I read it.
If I get an OS I expect that OS to play it the way I want. Any type of Vista Features such as content degregration and locking will be fixed within a month after release. A PC is not a vending mashine.
The good thing is there's a current competition to see which hacking group will fix Vista as soon as it's released. So not to worry.
looking for ways to grab money from another source since he
has already got that 90% of the world fooled. He isnt going to fix
winblows, he is going to side up with hollywood and waste some
of their time and money next. It would really be in everyone's
best interest to buy American, get a Mac, just like Mom and hot
dogs and baseball. The time to dump Windows is NOW, its just
plain useless to hope it will get better, 10 years have shown you
it WONT. What a shame PC users are stuck like this. A shame
the government didnt sue these hucksters at Microsoft long ago,
maybe the terrorists will use MSFT against us sometime soon,
and THEN "Maybe" many of you PC losers will get smart and get
off winblows for good. it just plain sucks.
Not that dumping MS is a bad idea...
On the other hand Microsoft only cares about the bottom line just like every other business who's trying to make money, including Apple. Notice here that I didn't say anything about Bill or Steve (Jobs). Bill is a competitor and he makes no bones about doing just about anything to win. Steve (Jobs) narcissistic about Apple. I can't tell you what Bill and Steve really feel down deep inside, but at the end of the day they both are trying to make money. The only real difference is that Apple could have been were Microsoft is today, but took a different path instead. I don't mean that to be good or bad either.
As a whole I am glad to see Apple fighting for the top and I am also glad to see other companies (Sun and Linux) trying to make way into Microsoft territory. Competition is good most of the time.
None of them really care for the end user though. We are faceless consumers. Now don't get me wrong, if they new each of us personally that would be different, but when was the last time you cared about some guy walking down the street you never met before?
I will buy Vista, video controls or no, I will just complain and sue the people who make the content if they do not make it CLEAR that their things will not play on Vista unless you have a Microsoft-certified Video Card.
Chances are that Windows popularity will decrease in favor of Linux. Apple MIGHT see a small gain, but many people, myself will stick with Windows XP and refuse to upgrade to Vista.
Hollywood needs to re-evaluate it's business model now, before it is too late. Theatre owners need to get rid of the advertisements and try to draw customers back. I love going to the theatre. There is nothing like seeing a great movie on the big screen, but several times I have been tempted to walk out when that Toyota ad came on. Oh, and by the way MPAA, you're after the wrong people when you show that piracy clip. I paid to see the movie therefore I supported you. I want to see the feature at the time indicated on the marquee.
looking for ways to grab money from another source since he
has already got that 90% of the world fooled. He isnt going to fix
winblows, he is going to side up with hollywood and waste some
of their time and money next. It would really be in everyone's
best interest to buy American, get a Mac, just like Mom and hot
dogs and baseball. The time to dump Windows is NOW, its just
plain useless to hope it will get better, 10 years have shown you
it WONT. What a shame PC users are stuck like this. A shame
the government didnt sue these hucksters at Microsoft long ago,
maybe the terrorists will use MSFT against us sometime soon,
and THEN "Maybe" many of you PC losers will get smart and get
off winblows for good. it just plain sucks.
Not that dumping MS is a bad idea...
On the other hand Microsoft only cares about the bottom line just like every other business who's trying to make money, including Apple. Notice here that I didn't say anything about Bill or Steve (Jobs). Bill is a competitor and he makes no bones about doing just about anything to win. Steve (Jobs) narcissistic about Apple. I can't tell you what Bill and Steve really feel down deep inside, but at the end of the day they both are trying to make money. The only real difference is that Apple could have been were Microsoft is today, but took a different path instead. I don't mean that to be good or bad either.
As a whole I am glad to see Apple fighting for the top and I am also glad to see other companies (Sun and Linux) trying to make way into Microsoft territory. Competition is good most of the time.
None of them really care for the end user though. We are faceless consumers. Now don't get me wrong, if they new each of us personally that would be different, but when was the last time you cared about some guy walking down the street you never met before?
I will buy Vista, video controls or no, I will just complain and sue the people who make the content if they do not make it CLEAR that their things will not play on Vista unless you have a Microsoft-certified Video Card.
Chances are that Windows popularity will decrease in favor of Linux. Apple MIGHT see a small gain, but many people, myself will stick with Windows XP and refuse to upgrade to Vista.
Hollywood needs to re-evaluate it's business model now, before it is too late. Theatre owners need to get rid of the advertisements and try to draw customers back. I love going to the theatre. There is nothing like seeing a great movie on the big screen, but several times I have been tempted to walk out when that Toyota ad came on. Oh, and by the way MPAA, you're after the wrong people when you show that piracy clip. I paid to see the movie therefore I supported you. I want to see the feature at the time indicated on the marquee.
looking for ways to grab money from another source since he
has already got that 90% of the world fooled. He isnt going to fix
winblows, he is going to side up with hollywood and waste some
of their time and money next. It would really be in everyone's
best interest to buy American, get a Mac, just like Mom and hot
dogs and baseball. The time to dump Windows is NOW, its just
plain useless to hope it will get better, 10 years have shown you
it WONT. What a shame PC users are stuck like this. A shame
the government didnt sue these hucksters at Microsoft long ago,
maybe the terrorists will use MSFT against us sometime soon,
and THEN "Maybe" many of you PC losers will get smart and get
off winblows for good. it just plain sucks.
Not that dumping MS is a bad idea...
On the other hand Microsoft only cares about the bottom line just like every other business who's trying to make money, including Apple. Notice here that I didn't say anything about Bill or Steve (Jobs). Bill is a competitor and he makes no bones about doing just about anything to win. Steve (Jobs) narcissistic about Apple. I can't tell you what Bill and Steve really feel down deep inside, but at the end of the day they both are trying to make money. The only real difference is that Apple could have been were Microsoft is today, but took a different path instead. I don't mean that to be good or bad either.
As a whole I am glad to see Apple fighting for the top and I am also glad to see other companies (Sun and Linux) trying to make way into Microsoft territory. Competition is good most of the time.
None of them really care for the end user though. We are faceless consumers. Now don't get me wrong, if they new each of us personally that would be different, but when was the last time you cared about some guy walking down the street you never met before?
I will buy Vista, video controls or no, I will just complain and sue the people who make the content if they do not make it CLEAR that their things will not play on Vista unless you have a Microsoft-certified Video Card.
Chances are that Windows popularity will decrease in favor of Linux. Apple MIGHT see a small gain, but many people, myself will stick with Windows XP and refuse to upgrade to Vista.
Hollywood needs to re-evaluate it's business model now, before it is too late. Theatre owners need to get rid of the advertisements and try to draw customers back. I love going to the theatre. There is nothing like seeing a great movie on the big screen, but several times I have been tempted to walk out when that Toyota ad came on. Oh, and by the way MPAA, you're after the wrong people when you show that piracy clip. I paid to see the movie therefore I supported you. I want to see the feature at the time indicated on the marquee.
looking for ways to grab money from another source since he
has already got that 90% of the world fooled. He isnt going to fix
winblows, he is going to side up with hollywood and waste some
of their time and money next. It would really be in everyone's
best interest to buy American, get a Mac, just like Mom and hot
dogs and baseball. The time to dump Windows is NOW, its just
plain useless to hope it will get better, 10 years have shown you
it WONT. What a shame PC users are stuck like this. A shame
the government didnt sue these hucksters at Microsoft long ago,
maybe the terrorists will use MSFT against us sometime soon,
and THEN "Maybe" many of you PC losers will get smart and get
off winblows for good. it just plain sucks.
Not that dumping MS is a bad idea...
On the other hand Microsoft only cares about the bottom line just like every other business who's trying to make money, including Apple. Notice here that I didn't say anything about Bill or Steve (Jobs). Bill is a competitor and he makes no bones about doing just about anything to win. Steve (Jobs) narcissistic about Apple. I can't tell you what Bill and Steve really feel down deep inside, but at the end of the day they both are trying to make money. The only real difference is that Apple could have been were Microsoft is today, but took a different path instead. I don't mean that to be good or bad either.
As a whole I am glad to see Apple fighting for the top and I am also glad to see other companies (Sun and Linux) trying to make way into Microsoft territory. Competition is good most of the time.
None of them really care for the end user though. We are faceless consumers. Now don't get me wrong, if they new each of us personally that would be different, but when was the last time you cared about some guy walking down the street you never met before?
I will buy Vista, video controls or no, I will just complain and sue the people who make the content if they do not make it CLEAR that their things will not play on Vista unless you have a Microsoft-certified Video Card.
Chances are that Windows popularity will decrease in favor of Linux. Apple MIGHT see a small gain, but many people, myself will stick with Windows XP and refuse to upgrade to Vista.
Hollywood needs to re-evaluate it's business model now, before it is too late. Theatre owners need to get rid of the advertisements and try to draw customers back. I love going to the theatre. There is nothing like seeing a great movie on the big screen, but several times I have been tempted to walk out when that Toyota ad came on. Oh, and by the way MPAA, you're after the wrong people when you show that piracy clip. I paid to see the movie therefore I supported you. I want to see the feature at the time indicated on the marquee.
against security attacks? But it doesn't what they do to combat
piracy or security attacks it will easily defeated. The record is clear.
programmer do any DAMN thing s/he wants, hardly ever even
BOTHER to ask the USER (it's easier to program that way, you
know).
I mean, you are absolutely right, M$ track record is totally
ridiculous. I guess the Hollywood types are coked-up to believe
anything from MS. I would argue that M$ do have geeks in
mind though, it seems they are only loyal to the programmers
and geek/nerds, they could care less about the average
consumer/worker though. Real truth is M$ has probably
figured out a great revenue stream (maybe hollywood has
decided to PAY M$ per copy?)
I guess MS are going to make audio/video inseparably
integrated into the OS. Ha ha ha... Maybe their lapdogs at the
DOJ/Bush administration will believe it though.
against security attacks? But it doesn't what they do to combat
piracy or security attacks it will easily defeated. The record is clear.
programmer do any DAMN thing s/he wants, hardly ever even
BOTHER to ask the USER (it's easier to program that way, you
know).
I mean, you are absolutely right, M$ track record is totally
ridiculous. I guess the Hollywood types are coked-up to believe
anything from MS. I would argue that M$ do have geeks in
mind though, it seems they are only loyal to the programmers
and geek/nerds, they could care less about the average
consumer/worker though. Real truth is M$ has probably
figured out a great revenue stream (maybe hollywood has
decided to PAY M$ per copy?)
I guess MS are going to make audio/video inseparably
integrated into the OS. Ha ha ha... Maybe their lapdogs at the
DOJ/Bush administration will believe it though.
against security attacks? But it doesn't what they do to combat
piracy or security attacks it will easily defeated. The record is clear.
programmer do any DAMN thing s/he wants, hardly ever even
BOTHER to ask the USER (it's easier to program that way, you
know).
I mean, you are absolutely right, M$ track record is totally
ridiculous. I guess the Hollywood types are coked-up to believe
anything from MS. I would argue that M$ do have geeks in
mind though, it seems they are only loyal to the programmers
and geek/nerds, they could care less about the average
consumer/worker though. Real truth is M$ has probably
figured out a great revenue stream (maybe hollywood has
decided to PAY M$ per copy?)
I guess MS are going to make audio/video inseparably
integrated into the OS. Ha ha ha... Maybe their lapdogs at the
DOJ/Bush administration will believe it though.
against security attacks? But it doesn't what they do to combat
piracy or security attacks it will easily defeated. The record is clear.
programmer do any DAMN thing s/he wants, hardly ever even
BOTHER to ask the USER (it's easier to program that way, you
know).
I mean, you are absolutely right, M$ track record is totally
ridiculous. I guess the Hollywood types are coked-up to believe
anything from MS. I would argue that M$ do have geeks in
mind though, it seems they are only loyal to the programmers
and geek/nerds, they could care less about the average
consumer/worker though. Real truth is M$ has probably
figured out a great revenue stream (maybe hollywood has
decided to PAY M$ per copy?)
I guess MS are going to make audio/video inseparably
integrated into the OS. Ha ha ha... Maybe their lapdogs at the
DOJ/Bush administration will believe it though.
and eventually get loaded with linux.
I hope Apple doesn't get this stupid but I fear they might as well.
and eventually get loaded with linux.
I hope Apple doesn't get this stupid but I fear they might as well.
and eventually get loaded with linux.
I hope Apple doesn't get this stupid but I fear they might as well.
and eventually get loaded with linux.
I hope Apple doesn't get this stupid but I fear they might as well.
Mark your calendars. In 5 years will all be complaining about the stabilty of the latest linux release. But we won't be using Windows.