Bill Gates against the Blu-ray Disc!

[ROF]

Digital Rights Management protects the content and the consumer. Take heart in knowing that DRM is only a speed bump in allowing information to flow freely.

Yeah right. It surely protects the content, you got that part right.

It also protects the consumer from openly and freely sharing copyrighted information. Doing such things is a violation of the law. If you didn't have to download an decryption program, you could just do a 1 for 1 and claim ignorance. This extra step in removing DRM insures that if you breach the law, you can not claim ignorance(although claiming such won't help you really) since you knew it was protected and installed software to break the law.

DRM protects both the consumer and the content.

[737mechanic]

I always think it is funny how many Microsoft haters there are. The one question I like to ask a microsoft hater is what OS they are running and about 95 percent of the time is is windows. If I hate something or someone then I dont buy/use there product so I have to ask myself if these people really hate microsoft or are they just jumping on the band wagon because they cant think for themselves.

[ROF]

If I hate something or someone then I dont buy/use there product so I have to ask myself if these people really hate microsoft or are they just jumping on the band wagon because they cant think for themselves.

I personally do not hate anybody or anything. Hate is such a strong word with such emotions that can only serve to cause disruption in your normal everyday thinking.

Most of those who I've found to claim to "hate" microsoft do not use anything microsoft. Their OS of choice is usually one of the dozen or so inept versions of unix.

[Cornucopia]

People hated AT&T (the Phone company, or "TPC" for you President's Analyst fans) in the '60s. For good reason. It was a government-sanctioned monopoly that cared little for the real wishes of it's customers. Gee, that sounds more than a little like M$ now...

Scott

[ROF]

People hated AT&T (the Phone company, or "TPC" for you President's Analyst fans) in the '60s. For good reason. It was a government-sanctioned monopoly that cared little for the real wishes of it's customers. Gee, that sounds more than a little like M$ now...

Scott

If Microsoft didn't care about their consumers they wouldn't have implemented recent procedures to slow down the spread of pirated versions. Microsoft also would not be providing security updates to deal with the almost daily threats to their consumers information. As we know from backups, no protection or security is 100% secure and never will be. If microsoft didn't care, they'd make worms, virusus, and other such nasties the problems for anti-virus and firewall companies software. in most cases, Microsoft where it can, will attempt to protect you by supplying you with an update that will prevent such trouble from reaching your system.

If they didn't care, things would be quite different.

[tanerb]

Yes.

And the people shall decide.

Just like they did before.

Wrong, people are mob , they don't decide, they just think that they decide. Stronger one will win and this will be decided by the company strategies. My view ofcourse...

[dvdguy4]

I always think it is funny how many Microsoft haters there are. The one question I like to ask a microsoft hater is what OS they are running and about 95 percent of the time is is windows. If I hate something or someone then I dont buy/use there product so I have to ask myself if these people really hate microsoft or are they just jumping on the band wagon because they cant think for themselves.

Your probably95 percent right. LOL

[andkiich]

At this point, if the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD do get of the ground, I think that they will become the new "laserdisc".

It will be a niche market for a few for a couple of years. I think that the market is now just settling on DVD and getting comfortable. It will be a long time before they can be convinced to re-buy their entire movie collections yet again on HD-DVD/Blu_Ray afterthey just shelled out $15 - 25 a piece on DVDs.

I just don't think there are enough videophiles out there to create a great enough swing in the market to turn everone to the new formats.

Just my opinion though.

[Two2Tango]

Competition is always great for the consumer...

[SLK001]

Its clearly superior to HD-DVD from a longevity standpoint

Betamax was superior than VHS, but VHS won in the end.

But VHS was superior in price. Consumers went for price over quality (especially since BETAMAX's quality wasn't really spectacularly superior to VHS). And early members of the VHF team were undercutting Betamax by $100 to $200 at the time when VCRs were going for a "pretty penny". I bought my first VHS for $399 in 1982 (no frills and with a wired remote).

[mbellot]

If Microsoft didn't care about their consumers they wouldn't have implemented recent procedures to slow down the spread of pirated versions.

You have got to be kidding. The only thing protected by Microsoft's infantile attempt to slow piracy is Microsoft's profit margin.

Microsoft also would not be providing security updates to deal with the almost daily threats to their consumers information. As we know from backups, no protection or security is 100% secure and never will be. If microsoft didn't care, they'd make worms, virusus, and other such nasties the problems for anti-virus and firewall companies software. in most cases, Microsoft where it can, will attempt to protect you by supplying you with an update that will prevent such trouble from reaching your system.

If they didn't care, things would be quite different.

Interesting argument, unfortunately once again Microsoft is only attempting to protect their already poor reputation.

Besides, plugging bugs/security holes is a RESPONSIBILITY, not somethig that should be regarded as going above and beyond.

[matj]

So let me get this straight. My choices are to support Sony with Blu-Ray or Microsoft with HD-DVD. I don't think I care for either of the choices.

[RLT69]

ROF wrote:

Most of those who I've found to claim to "hate" microsoft do not use anything microsoft. Their OS of choice is usually one of the dozen or so inept versions of unix.

Could you explain what you mean by "inept" versions of unix? What makes them inept? To which version of unix are you refering:

HP's True 64
SCO's Openserver or Unixware
IBM's AIX
Berkley's BSD
Sun's Solaris

I'm assuming you have used one of these products and could explain to us in detail what makes them inept.

[BJ_M]

PCWorld.com is reporting that Toshiba, the company most pushing for success of the HD-DVD video disc format, has said they plan to delay the U.S. consumer launch of the product. This news comes as the competing HDTV disc format, Blu-ray, gains Hollywood and Silicon Valley momentum.

[jntaylor63]

The most that I am looking foward to in these disk is the ability to consolidate my movie collect.

I would love to put my Star Wars / Star Trek / LOTR / Alien, ect on 1 or 2 disks. Would also be a great back-up sloution too.

From what I have read, HD-DVD will be hear by fall 05. Also, NEC's HR-1100A will retail for €500 and read HD DVDs at 2x and DVDs at 8x. A HD DVD writer will follow next January.

[ROF]

HD DVD is still around? I thought just about every motion picture studio, computer retailer, and other products were going to be using blu ray?

Whichever comes out I hope they both include a strong hardware/software DRM solution so we don't end up with the fiasco that the current DVD/CD Market is experiencing. Granted, nothing is 100%, but it would nice to see more artists getting their fair share through the companies expense of added value protection.

[adam]

Format wars are not necessarily a bad thing, but studio wars are. Both camps have their ace cards and different movie studio's are going to bow to one or the other. The result is that studios may release their movies exclusively on one format or the other, though I'm sure they will still release red laser DVDs too for some time to come.

So you won't just be choosing your format of choice based on its merits, but you will also have to take into consideration the available catalogue... and its just ridculous to buy a media player that way. I think alot of people are going to hold off hoping that a player will come out that supports everything, but that may never happen due to licensing issues.

[8ju4gr3nml]

Tom's Hardware has an interesting interview with a Microsoft rep:

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050927_190208.html