it's time for me to bitch and moan a bit...
I use a WLAN connection to get on the Internet. It's aggrivating, at times, because the signal is crappy, but that's not what I want to bitch about.
DRM. I fucking hate DRM. I hate it with a passion. Apparently, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are going to have DRM in them that restricts what kinds of screens you can view them on. If your screen (or video card AND monitor) isn't compatible, then you're stuck watching it in DVD quality. I'll bet that the only reason that they are doing this is because the movie studios are strong-arming them into it. The killer part? It's a felony AND a federal offence to circumvent DRM. If I own a legal copy of a movie, TV show, or CD, shouldn't I be able to watch it or listen to it on whatever I want? If I can't afford to get a brand spanking new GPU and monitor to go with my Blu-Ray drive, then why should I be penalized? Fuck that shit. I'm going to boycott the MPAA, the RIAA, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, Micorsoft (who I am already boycotting), Sony, and anyone else who is leading the charge in DRM innovation, and I strongly encourage everyone else to do the same. DRM is killing us, and it completely violates the principle of "fair use". If I want to archive copies of my LEGALLY PURCHASED media, who has any business telling me that I can't? I'm not letting other people have access to it. I'm arciving it in case the originals get lost, damaged, or stolen (which has happened before).
If enough people realize what bullshit DRM is, then perhaps we have a chance at getting the trend towards more restrictive and draconian (I'm looking at you, Blu-Ray) DRM reversed. Otherwise, Sony's XCP rootkit is only a grim foreshadowing of what's to come. Intel is starting to incorporate DRM into their chipsets, and Windows Vista (which will be released bundled with Duke Nukem Forever) will have mandatory DRM out of the box.
The Open Source community has gotten very good at circumventing DRM. I suggest that anyone who is looking for a viable alternative to Windows Vista (which, when it actually gets released, seems like it is going to be XP with more eye candy and an ungodly huge footprint) check out Gentoo or Ubuntu Linux. 3D desktop? Vista will have it, but Linux already does. And the 3D desktop in Vista is a resource hog, according to what I've seen of the "release candidates" (in quotes because they so far aren't even worthy of beta testing). Desktop search? You've got it. Sidebar? Yep. You can make Linux into whatever you want it to be with minimal work. I installed Ubuntu on a friend's computer, and he has had very few issues that he's needed my help on. If he does need my help, it's a ten minute phone call, or a remote desktop session, and *BAM*, the problem is fixed.
Windows XP has this problem of not liking being up and running for too long. So it crashes. My Linux machine runs for days on end before I turn it off. So far, it has never crashed unless I've made it crash by doing something stupid that requires sudoing.
Anyhow, DRM sucks, Linux rocks, and everyone should boycott the leaders in advancing DRM technology.
I use a WLAN connection to get on the Internet. It's aggrivating, at times, because the signal is crappy, but that's not what I want to bitch about.
DRM. I fucking hate DRM. I hate it with a passion. Apparently, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are going to have DRM in them that restricts what kinds of screens you can view them on. If your screen (or video card AND monitor) isn't compatible, then you're stuck watching it in DVD quality. I'll bet that the only reason that they are doing this is because the movie studios are strong-arming them into it. The killer part? It's a felony AND a federal offence to circumvent DRM. If I own a legal copy of a movie, TV show, or CD, shouldn't I be able to watch it or listen to it on whatever I want? If I can't afford to get a brand spanking new GPU and monitor to go with my Blu-Ray drive, then why should I be penalized? Fuck that shit. I'm going to boycott the MPAA, the RIAA, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, Micorsoft (who I am already boycotting), Sony, and anyone else who is leading the charge in DRM innovation, and I strongly encourage everyone else to do the same. DRM is killing us, and it completely violates the principle of "fair use". If I want to archive copies of my LEGALLY PURCHASED media, who has any business telling me that I can't? I'm not letting other people have access to it. I'm arciving it in case the originals get lost, damaged, or stolen (which has happened before).
If enough people realize what bullshit DRM is, then perhaps we have a chance at getting the trend towards more restrictive and draconian (I'm looking at you, Blu-Ray) DRM reversed. Otherwise, Sony's XCP rootkit is only a grim foreshadowing of what's to come. Intel is starting to incorporate DRM into their chipsets, and Windows Vista (which will be released bundled with Duke Nukem Forever) will have mandatory DRM out of the box.
The Open Source community has gotten very good at circumventing DRM. I suggest that anyone who is looking for a viable alternative to Windows Vista (which, when it actually gets released, seems like it is going to be XP with more eye candy and an ungodly huge footprint) check out Gentoo or Ubuntu Linux. 3D desktop? Vista will have it, but Linux already does. And the 3D desktop in Vista is a resource hog, according to what I've seen of the "release candidates" (in quotes because they so far aren't even worthy of beta testing). Desktop search? You've got it. Sidebar? Yep. You can make Linux into whatever you want it to be with minimal work. I installed Ubuntu on a friend's computer, and he has had very few issues that he's needed my help on. If he does need my help, it's a ten minute phone call, or a remote desktop session, and *BAM*, the problem is fixed.
Windows XP has this problem of not liking being up and running for too long. So it crashes. My Linux machine runs for days on end before I turn it off. So far, it has never crashed unless I've made it crash by doing something stupid that requires sudoing.
Anyhow, DRM sucks, Linux rocks, and everyone should boycott the leaders in advancing DRM technology.