Re: [tlug] Re: [CoLoCo] RESPECT MICROSOFT

["Niels Kobschätzki" <n.kobschaetzki@example.com>]

On 8/18/07, Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Aug 2007, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
>
> > Curt Sampson writes:
> >
> > > No, as you point out, everybody has a choice. MS and Intel are moving
> > > toward supporting very strong DRM, but they don't have to do that.
> >
> > Sure they do, if the market demands it.
>
> But the market does not appear to be demanding it, at least not very
> strongly. MS and Intel are adding DRM because the large content owners
> won't let their devices play the content otherwise, but there seems to
> me no massive demand for playing DVDs on Windows boxes and the like.
> What demand there is is probably created by Microsoft and Intel by their
> chosing to make and promote the products.

I don't think that the consumers are demanding it but the companies
are. If I ask around in the circle of my not-tech-savvy friends they
are quite indifferent to it. They do not really care about DRM,
usually until they change devices and see the problems occuring with
it. E.g. one used to download stuff with the old MS-DRM-protection
(before Zune) and got then an iPod and then he realised first what
problems are occuring. Even though we spoke before about it.
The next thing is that e.g. with the HD-DRM is that at least in my
opinion a lot of ppl do not really see the difference between HD- and
just DVD-quality. If the video material gets scaled down to
DVD-quality they (most of the consumers) just won't notice it and so
they won't complain.
The only chance the consumers have to show that they do not want to
have DRM in the products is that they either do not buy products that
include DRM or buy more stuff w/out DRM. But because nearly everywhere
DRM is built-in nowadays you do not have a real choice as a consumer.
I by myself do not like DRM but I regularly buy at the iTMS because
it's far cheaper and easier for me to buy iTMS-stuff then getting a CD
where I just like one song. Therefore the DRM is part of the trade-off
-- 0.99 Euro for a song with DRM or 15 Euro (7 if it's a maxi) for a
CD which maybe has DRM. Well, and there is the option of piracy but
this isn't really an option if you want to follow the rules of law.
Anyway, what I want to say is that most consumers are indifferent to
DRM because they just do not have enough information about it. The
consumer just wants that it works.
The producers want to have DRM in their products and therefore it gets
into the products they sell and they make sure that it will work (at
least most of the time) for John Doe.
John Doe gets his music, it will play on his computer, his MP3-player
and he's happy. He does not care if it has DRM on it or not. He will
begin to care when he buys another MP3-player which does not work
together with the bought music. But guess what - imho he won't blame
it on the producer of the music with DRM that it does not work but on
the producer of the MP3-player that he didn't include that kind of
DRM-support because it worked before. WinTel just make sure together
with the entertainment industry that the first device that the music
gets loaded on it will work and that is the most important factor. And
I guess that there are some kind of revenues WinTel gets from the
entertainment industry for including that kind of stuff.

Niels