Does Bill Gates still use a Mac?

mullingitover

The only thing worse then DRM? The geniuses over at Microsoft that couldn't market themselves out of a wet paper sack!

Honestly, if anyone else has read Bill Simmons you'll agree that some companies need to employ a CEO of Common Sense. This position is held by someone familiar with the industry but doesn't have hands-on experience daily operations. That way when an idea as backwards as this one group-thinks it's way up through the company's GI, the CEO of Common Sense is there to flush it down the toilet!

Johnny Chimpo

I have a good friend that works at MSFT. His home computer is a MAC and he surfs the web on Firefox.

Need we wonder why?

schrosa

And the Answer to that is No.. iTunes is Horribly on Windows Prd..
and DRM Suck as Much as the RIAA..

DJJS

Other things "Certified for Windows Vista":

Your Mom.
My A$$.
Your Grandma.

(Sorry.)

92BuickLeSabre

Wait, are we just talking about Playforsure DRM here, or Playforsure in general.

Because if it's the latter, then someone's definition of DRM is skewed.

Because last time I checked, Playforsure =/= DRM.

Ion_Predator

They're slowly but surely dropping the deadly DRM. Zune has mp3 downloads now, but there is a long way to go...

LoopTrack

@Ion_Predator: PlaysForSure is technically a set of given standards for portable media players, but practically "PlaysForSure" certified more or less means it'll work with content loaded up with PFS DRM, and wonky DRM ecosystems are why it's confusing in the first place. I've clarified the post a bit though.

matt buchanan

I dont see why microsoft is still supporting it they should just make a seperate media player that plays it and drop it from windows media player replace plays for sure in windows media player with zune and make zune the only player that is compatiable with it

utube2007

@Matt Buchanan:

It's late, so I'm not really grasping this as easily as I normally would, but the way I take it, if you loaded up DRM content on a device using PFS on, say, an XP machine, then if you connect that same device to a Vista machine, then "Certified for Vista" should be able to read that content. Am I right?

I agree that it's confusing. But it's good move on MS's part. But, there's no way MS could ever advertise this function because it would take a movie to explain it to an un-savvy person.

But I was getting the impression that you said that FPS locks you into a DRMed ecosystem. Because while PFS isn't as free as a UMS/drag-n-drop device, it's still miles better than a DRM environment.

Ion_Predator

@Ion_Predator: PlaysForSure certified means it'll play content that's locked down with PlayForSure DRM. Rebranding PFS as "Certified for Windows Vista" is like Apple branding FairPlay certified gear (the iPod) as "Certified for Leopard." It obscures the issue, which is compatibility with media that has a particular DRM scheme. It's worse still because Microsoft ditched PFS with its own device, Zune, which makes use of a wholly different DRM scheme.

matt buchanan

My question... is PlayReady dead yet? Cause it sounds like people keep saying "PlaysForSure" when they really mean "PlayReady", unless I'm missing the latest memo. PlayReady is for mobile, and PlaysForSure is for everything else... Um, except Zunes, and whatever. Now, they're what, changing "PlaysForSure" into "Certified for Windows Vista"? Is PlayReady going away too? Like the sad state of cellphone unlocking, I always got annoyed to think that Apple is clearly fighting tooth and nail to keep a seamless DRM experience going from iPod -> iPhone -> Apple TV -> Computer, yet Windows DRM, by its nature, has become a bit of a frankestein's monster of incompatibility inside of itself. Some phones are PlaysForSure, others are "PlayReady", and Zune has its own thing, even though its a Microsoft product... and not everything purchased in Windows DRM format will play on "PlaysForSure" devices.

--I mean, criticise them all you like, but the fact that I can take an episode of Lost, that I bought on my computer through iTunes 2 years ago, and play it on my iPhone today is awesome (as well as Mac/PC/iPod Touch/Classic/Nano). Likewise vice-versa. Just about the only thing NO ONE talks about with DRM, is that there's no transferability, and that people that buy on iTunes today, have videos tied to ONE personal account that would become unweildy for someone else to fold into their own. I can't even imagine how screwed PlaysForSure surviving family are.

Cleverboy

I'm even more glad where I am now. Jebus.

Kaiser-Machead

Isn't the Zune also "Certified for Windows Vista"? Won't this be confusing for all those "Certified for WIndows Vista" stores that suddenly don't work on the "Certified for Windows Vista" Zune?

And does this now lock out all the PlaysForSure stuff we have if we don't use Vista? (I know it doesn't, but it's not exactly a stupid question since it almost implies you need Vista...).

Worf

@slaughter: PFS is back in the Zune? Is that true?

drake_remoray

who cares?

ThriftyTechie