CptKrf
01-26-2006, 07:21 PM
I was at a mini-conference where a Linux overview of servers was being given to potential ex-WinServer folks. It was good but no big deal for me since I have long since left WinServer lala land.
But the most interesting meetings were informal and over lunch and breaktimes and were about hardware directions, especially with all the tech news sites editoralizing that this is the year of the DRM.
Everybody agreed that Linux is not going to play the DRM tune. But many of the folks said that we have a problem since the likes of Intel, MS and possibly the US government are going to mandate that all hardware (motherboards is our problem - and possibly CD/DVD rom ondrive electronics) have unbypassable drm onboard - BIOS included. Linux users will either play ball or go home and learn knitting.
Or...
The other opinion was that the US is only a fraction of the world IT market and even less of the worldwide usage of Linux and the rest of the world is not necessarily going to go along. (Anybody know about Europe?) An example that was given is South America from Mexico south as reguards Macrovision. No Macrovision enabled gear is sent to those counties because the stuff can't even be given away. (I didn't know that. Now I know what my Audio/Video friends were talking about when they plan a "Thunder Run" to the border for more gear.) This group's assumption is that Linux will be the same way in that plenty of hardware that is restriction free will always be available.
I was really interested in the opinions because, a few weeks ago I was in the market for a replacement component sound system because my new AMD64/Debian Shuttle has Dolby 5x/7x on board. (Great box. Small and QUIET.) I found a good Pioneer sound system on sale and was about to tell the salesperson to box it up when I noticed a small flag logo that looked like the Winders flag. Egad, it was! And below it was a line that said "Windows Media Enabled". Yuck. That stopped the sale right then till I checked out just what that meant. So far I still haven't found out if it is one of those new features that "Enhances the Customer Experience" by preventing the use of media that is not approved by Hollywood.
But it appears that the powers-that-be are dead serious about not allowing owners of PCs to just assume that they have the freedom to use their own equipment anyway they please. Hopefully it will just affect toy OS's, and not real ones.
What do you think?
CptKrf
But the most interesting meetings were informal and over lunch and breaktimes and were about hardware directions, especially with all the tech news sites editoralizing that this is the year of the DRM.
Everybody agreed that Linux is not going to play the DRM tune. But many of the folks said that we have a problem since the likes of Intel, MS and possibly the US government are going to mandate that all hardware (motherboards is our problem - and possibly CD/DVD rom ondrive electronics) have unbypassable drm onboard - BIOS included. Linux users will either play ball or go home and learn knitting.
Or...
The other opinion was that the US is only a fraction of the world IT market and even less of the worldwide usage of Linux and the rest of the world is not necessarily going to go along. (Anybody know about Europe?) An example that was given is South America from Mexico south as reguards Macrovision. No Macrovision enabled gear is sent to those counties because the stuff can't even be given away. (I didn't know that. Now I know what my Audio/Video friends were talking about when they plan a "Thunder Run" to the border for more gear.) This group's assumption is that Linux will be the same way in that plenty of hardware that is restriction free will always be available.
I was really interested in the opinions because, a few weeks ago I was in the market for a replacement component sound system because my new AMD64/Debian Shuttle has Dolby 5x/7x on board. (Great box. Small and QUIET.) I found a good Pioneer sound system on sale and was about to tell the salesperson to box it up when I noticed a small flag logo that looked like the Winders flag. Egad, it was! And below it was a line that said "Windows Media Enabled". Yuck. That stopped the sale right then till I checked out just what that meant. So far I still haven't found out if it is one of those new features that "Enhances the Customer Experience" by preventing the use of media that is not approved by Hollywood.
But it appears that the powers-that-be are dead serious about not allowing owners of PCs to just assume that they have the freedom to use their own equipment anyway they please. Hopefully it will just affect toy OS's, and not real ones.
What do you think?
CptKrf