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How the net turns code into politics - Be aware of Windows Vista

tata's picture
Submitted by tata on Mon, 2007-02-05 21:47.

The freedoms built in to the net are under attack like never before, argues regular columnist Bill Thompson.
The launch of Windows Vista last week was accompanied by widespread criticism from advocates of open systems, open networks and the free flow of information.
Particular attention was lavished on the digital rights management (DRM) features of the new operating system, the tools that determine whether you can play or copy video or audio on your computer.
Vista's DRM even aroused the wrath of the Green Party, which condemned it for requiring "more expensive and energy-hungry hardware".
It claimed that "there will be thousands of tonnes of dumped monitors, video cards and whole computers that are perfectly capable of running Vista - except for the fact they lack the paranoid lock down mechanisms Vista forces you to use".
Perhaps, though I can't really see home users dumping their existing hardware earlier than planned just so they can download high-definition TV shows and pump them through to their new HD television - they will just get a dedicated HD player instead.

*read more: Here

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