[opendtv] Re: Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?

  • From: Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 07:07:03 -0400



Richard C. Ramsden wrote:
> I'm still trying to figure out what GE's goal is in this episode.
I'd guess they were just testing the winds to see what they could get away with, both technically and politically. And as the corporate owner of the plaintiff in the original Sony vs Universal Supreme Court VCR case maybe GE exec's still feel they have some unfinished business here.
I would like the public to send a message to both GE and Microsoft that overly crippled products will not be purchased, even if those products "make rights holders feel more comfortable releasing their content".
So the more hoopla and flack on this issue the better. And I'll personally boycott MS Media Center. I have other alternatives. 

- Tom
Microsoft is in an odd position. Technically respecting the "broadcast flag" is illegal. 
But, since they could claim it's just a bug in their code...
I will never buy a computer with vista installed.

I'm still trying to figure out what GE's goal is in this episode.

Monty Solomon wrote:

May 19th, 2008
Microsoft's Masters: Whose Rules Does Your Media Center Play By?
Posted by Danny O'Brien
While its customers are still puzzling over why Vista Media Center is suddenly refusing to record over-the-air NBC digital TV, Microsoft has come out with an astounding admission, courtesy of Greg Sandoval at CNet News:
"Microsoft included technologies in Windows based on rules set forth by the (Federal Communications Commission)," a Microsoft spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "As part of these regulations, Windows Media Center fully adheres to the flags used by broadcasters and content owners to determine how their content is distributed and consumed."
Microsoft's statement shines light on how Microsoft expects Media Center to behave. If this is the company's explanation for what users are seeing when attempting to record digital NBC broadcasts over-the-air, then Microsoft is saying Vista obeys the broadcast flag: a requirement rejected by courts and Congress. 

...
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/05/microsofts-masters-whose-rules-does-your-media-cen
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