Bruce Schneier's take on "DRM in Windows Vista"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daze N. Knights
  • Start date Start date
Daze N. Knights said:
Crypto-Gram Newsletter
February 15, 2007

by Bruce Schneier
Founder and CTO
BT Counterpane

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0702.html#8
Click to expand...

1st paragraph:
Windows Vista includes an array of "features" that you don't want. These
features will make your computer less reliable and less secure. They'll make
your computer less stable and run slower. They will cause technical support
problems. They may even require you to upgrade some of your peripheral
hardware and existing software. And these features won't do anything useful.
In fact, they're working against you.


yea, sounds about right.
so... what's the bad news?
 
Daze N. Knights said:
Crypto-Gram Newsletter
February 15, 2007

by Bruce Schneier
Founder and CTO
BT Counterpane

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0702.html#8
Click to expand...

An excellent summation of DRM in Vista by
the highly respected Bruce Schneier.

The chorus of Vista DRM dissenters grows, and many are not
uneducated loonies, either.

Had Microsoft not bought Mark Russinovich's
and Bryce Cogswell's silence,
I wonder where they would stand on this.
Perhaps, a preemptive purchase by Microsoft.


-Michael
 
Crypto-Gram Newsletter
February 15, 2007

by Bruce Schneier
Founder and CTO
BT Counterpane

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0702.html#8
Click to expand...

I've never heard of BT Counterpane or Bruce (till now that is).
--
Scott http://angrykeyboarder.com

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
NOTICE: In-Newsgroup (and therefore off-topic) comments on my sig will
be cheerfully ignored, so don't waste our time.
 
Daze N. Knights said:
Crypto-Gram Newsletter
February 15, 2007

by Bruce Schneier
Founder and CTO
BT Counterpane

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0702.html#8
Click to expand...


I don't disagree with much of this article but I have one comment. All of
the articles on DRM assume that Microsoft can dictate to the media companies
because they have 90% of the OS market share. This is obviously true but at
the same time how many people actually use a pc to watch movies. I don't
have any statistics but I would be very surprised if people watching movies
with their pc was more than 5% of the total number of movie watchers. The
media companies want nothing to do with people watching their content on a
pc and would much prefer they use a standalone hardware device that is much
harder to alter. In the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry at
present Microsoft is a rather small player and can't dictate anything to
anybody. In 2005 Microsoft had revenues of around $40 billion. Sony alone
had revenues of $60 billion, Disney $31 billion, Time Warner $43 billion,
NBC Universal $14 billion. Tell me who is wagging the tail here?
 
It's not pointless at all. Like Bruce said, it is about owning the
distribution channel.

Well, let's see what happens with this thread. There will be a lot of
people calling Schnier a crackpot now, or documenting their criticisms of
what he says by references to their own websites.

Dale
 
Had Microsoft not bought Mark Russinovich's
and Bryce Cogswell's silence,
I wonder where they would stand on this.
Perhaps, a preemptive purchase by Microsoft.
Click to expand...

It was sure interesting timing, wasn't it? Just before Vista came out. And
Mark has already changed his tune about DRM and has begun repeating what his
new masters tell him to say.

Dale
 
Kerry Brown said:
I don't disagree with much of this article but I have one comment. All of the articles on DRM
assume that Microsoft can dictate to the media companies because they have 90% of the OS
market share. This is obviously true but at the same time how many people actually use a pc
to watch movies. I don't have any statistics but I would be very surprised if people watching
movies with their pc was more than 5% of the total number of movie watchers. The media
companies want nothing to do with people watching their content on a pc and would much prefer
they use a standalone hardware device that is much harder to alter. In the multi-billion
dollar entertainment industry at present Microsoft is a rather small player and can't dictate
anything to anybody. In 2005 Microsoft had revenues of around $40 billion. Sony alone had
revenues of $60 billion, Disney $31 billion, Time Warner $43 billion, NBC Universal $14
billion. Tell me who is wagging the tail here?
Click to expand...

Microsoft made more profit than any of them and has the largest
cash reserve of almost any company.


-Michael
 
You're very uninformed in the field of cryptography. He has keynoted many
global security conferences.

Dale
 
MICHAEL said:
Microsoft made more profit than any of them and has the largest
cash reserve of almost any company.


-Michael
Click to expand...

Same was true for Genghis Khan in his day. Your point?

Alias
 
MICHAEL said:
Microsoft made more profit than any of them and has the largest
cash reserve of almost any company.


-Michael
Click to expand...


Agreed. This doesn't negate the fact that they are still a small player in a
very large pond. Some estimates put the total entertainment industry revenue
at around 2 trillion dollars. I can't find any estimates under 1 trillion.
That's a very large tail to try to wag.

I'm not defending DRM or even Microsoft's implementation of it in Vista. I'd
like nothing better than to see it go away. I'm just saying all the articles
that say Microsoft has enough clout to dictate to the entertainment industry
are wrong on that point. Consumers may have enough clout. Microsoft doesn't.
The only thing that will stop DRM is if it inconveniences the consumer to a
point where they won't buy DRM media.
 
Dale said:
It was sure interesting timing, wasn't it? Just before Vista came out. And
Mark has already changed his tune about DRM and has begun repeating what his
new masters tell him to say.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I really used to respect and value what Mark had to say.
Now, it seems that he's like so many others... everyone has a price,
Microsoft met his.

Without trying to sound overly dramatic, I was surprised and saddened
the day I read Mark and Bryce had sold to Microsoft, and would also be
working for them.


-Michael
 
MICHAEL said:
Without trying to sound overly dramatic, I was surprised and saddened
the day I read Mark and Bryce had sold to Microsoft, and would also be
working for them.
Click to expand...

Yep. We knew we had lost something.

Dale
 
Back
Top