DRM strikes again (another reason to pass on Vista)

[EagerMind]

What's wrong with Mac, Nik? In fact, I've seriously been considering "switching sides."

Meh, I don't know that Apple is any more benevolent than Microsoft, they just have that "underdog" appeal. I mean, look at iTunes. I wouldn't trust either of them.

I assure you ... if Macs had the user-base that PCs have, they'd be just as virus prone.

It seems like a lot of articles feel that Vista will basically be a flop, making this "The Year of Linux" or "The Year of the Mac." Don't know about all that, but it'd be interesting to see how Apple would fare if they shifted roles with Microsoft (or even just grabbed significant market share). I think we'd see claims like "114,000 Viruses? Not on a Mac." go away quickly.

The longstanding fallacy of copy protection is that a hacked copy is almost always better than the original.

Word!

For those that care, an interesting article here looking at the battle between piracy and DRM. It looks at "the portion of revenue that is due to AACS protection" that the studios are so desperate to get, pointing out that this may actually be a negative number. In other words, the studios may be spending all this money on DRM so they can ... lose more money. That thought makes me smile.

[Radiant]

Third it's a monopoly which can only be bad! If IBM had done the same then we all would be screwed!

So you're saying Microsoft is not a monopoly?

I assure you ... if Macs had the user-base that PCs have, they'd be just as virus prone.  Run a mac if you want, but put an Antivirus program on it.

Not quite. It's as much about design decisions as it is about popularity. There are a couple of brain-damaged decisions in earlier Windows versions that make it so virus-prone.

I would probably change to a Mac or Linux if it wasn't for the fact I would be back to stone age gaming speaking,

That's a good point, but WINE runs most windows games without problems (although admittedly it doesn't run the newest flashy games)

And from all the persons I chat with and who are using Linux, I have yet to not hear one of them saying "I'm re-installing Linux" every 3 months and hear one of them say "I've finished to config Linux, everything went flawlessly"

Try Ubuntu. Yes, people bitch a lot, but people likewise always bitch about bugs in Windows.

Hopefully, in the following years Bill will retire and the next dude taking over will notice there is absolutly no company that are willing to change all their hardware just for an OS,

Are you aware that he already has? Steve has run the corp for several years now.

[Nikolas]

Third it's a monopoly which can only be bad! If IBM had done the same then we all would be screwed!

So you're saying Microsoft is not a monopoly?

It is a different kind of monopoly. You have a choice between windows, Linux, and ok Mac OS (if you're on Mac). so you CAN avoid MS. Office has the fre counterpart, and everything as well.

Where do you go to buy Mac systems? In an apple store. Windows? Everywhere.

That kind of monopoly.

[SSH]

So... the kind of monopoly where you have a choice...

Neither Microsoft nor Apple have monopolies, the problem is that they are TRYING to...

[scotch]

You can buy Macs lots of places, check any major computer web store, or head into PC World and take a look. They're not in as many shops as Windows PCs simply because they're less popular. On the other hand, you can find Apple iPods everywhere, and Microsoft Zunes? Well, ok, nobody has tried to find a Zune.

I see what you are getting at though, I too wouldn't buy into a general computing platform that one company controls, too used to the PC, with its thousands of hardware choices, and highly competitive market. But I have the choice not to so it's not a monopoly.

I wonder how long until I have to rename this thread "Lets have another Mac Vs PC Debate!"

[Nikolas]

I wonder how long until I have to rename this thread "Lets have another Mac Vs PC Debate!"

Please no... I wouldn't want that to happen really.

I do agree with what you say indeed, ad maybe monopoly is the wrong word... :-/

Either way, lets check at early 2008 and see how many of us here have Vista and how many don't. I can see that few people will resist, but I can honestly say that since I will be buying a computer in 2008, it's hard to avoid it, and don't think that I want to, although I hate all the things mentioned in here and I agree full heartidly! Problem? New software simply won't run in XP. (Plus the memory issue).

No problem with Macs... (btw, I've not seen much debates around here really about this subject tbh...)

[Darth Mandarb]

Not quite. It's as much about design decisions as it is about popularity. There are a couple of brain-damaged decisions in earlier Windows versions that make it so virus-prone.

Believe me, I'm not defending the [in]stability of Windows.  But if Macs had the user-base that PCs have they'd have just as many viruses.  No matter how stable they claim their OS is.

My point (on the sheer stupidity of DRM and copy-protection) is that if they hired 10,000 people to fight against it, they'd still be outnumberd 100,000 to 1 by people who try to break it.  No matter what they come up with some 14 year old in his parent's basement will crack it 10 minutes after it's released.  They're wasting/losing time, money, and consumer trust by fighting a foolish battle they can't even remotely have the faintest shimmer of a hope to win.

It's no different with Macs if they had the user-base that PCs have.  More stable than Windows or not, it'd have hackers finding ways of writing viruses for it.  The only reason it doesn't now is these dolts like fu**ing with the most people they can, and right now, that's the PC market.

[vict0r]

Either way, lets check at early 2008 and see how many of us here have Vista and how many don't.

XP, Vista or OSX! Could be a bigger issue then? ^^

[Akatosh]

Well, I have a simple reason why I won't install Vista: My hardware wouldn't run with DirectX 10! And why else should I get it? I don't want fancy 3D windows. I don't want transparency effects. I don't want userfriendlyness. Can you hear me?

I WANT A NOT FRIENDLY, UGLY, FOCUSED-ON-FUNCTIONALITY AND WORKING SYSTEM!

Just to show them, I'll get either a cracked version of it or crack it myself (not that I have too much experience with that). Then I'll put it on hundreds of sites. Then I'll burn the cracked version on thousands of CDs and leave them in public places. Then I'll spam it to everyone via spambots. Then I'll hack the Microsoft website and put the cracked Vista for free download.

...well, not really. But someone should do that 

It's true that it's impossible to make create REALLY working copy protection.
And it's good that way. Seriously, if they sold everything at a sane price (50â,¬ for Battlefield 2142, as an example - good game, but full of bugs AND advertisement AND non-working stuff AND Battlefield 2 is still sold at 40â,¬ AND is full of bugs still.) this issue would at least shrink. Really, if you could buy songs for what they are worth - about 5â,¬ maximum per CD - what would be the point of cracking?

[strazer]

I would probably change to a Mac or Linux if it wasn't for the fact I would be back to stone age gaming speaking,

That's a good point, but WINE runs most windows games without problems (although admittedly it doesn't run the newest flashy games)

I wouldn't say without problems. Yes, there's a good chance it can play the game if it's a few years old, but in general Wine wasn't made with games in mind.

Linux just isn't for gamers. There's a bunch of ported games, fan-made ports and lots of emulators but if you always want the newest games, stick to Windows, dual-boot or get a next-gen console.
I run Linux, still play my PS2 and couldn't be happier.