I've just started reading an hour ago about "Trusted Computing".

Can you trust your computer? - by Richard Stallman

EFF:Trusted Computing: Promise and Risk - by Seth Schoen

Trusted Computing - the wikipedia article.

TRUSTED COMPUTING - A animated short about it by benjamin stephan and lutz vogel.

'Trusted Computing' Frequently Asked Questions - by Ross Anderson (this faq is old and contains some misconceptions)

I believe this could potentially end 'among other basic freedoms and privileges' fair use, internet privacy, and Open Source Software.

And I only just started reading about this.

Nevermind, I guess it may not be the end of fair use, and Open Source Software:

People are already starting to reject DRM/itunes in favor of MP3 distributors. - DRM is dying and MP3 will be the dominant format

I guess Open Source programs will still work on 'Trusted Computers'. - Trusted Computing: Promise and Risk

mp3... What about .ogg? Why nobody uses it? If I ever need to rip my CD's I will try to use .ogg more since I heard that it is slightly better.

ogg and basic video mpeg is what i prefer ...


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Ogg is higher quality than MP3.

People are just stupid drones at times, and only hear the buzzwords "MP3, iPod, iTunes, Limewire". That's why MP3 is dominating.

People don't care about DRM, nor do they care about Ogg. They just want to listen to their music painlessly and get it cheap or, better yet, for free (as in beer). This is why the typical home user will only use some kind of cracked version of Vista, if at all. All those apocalyptic visions about TCPA from a few years ago haven't come to pass and never will. Consumers are just too used to getting stuff for free on the 'net.

On a side note, the Fraunhofer guys or whoever now holds the 'rights' (haha) to MP3 will forget about renewing the patent or whatever in 2010(?) and the MP3 format itsself will become public domain.

i really like ogg but mp3 still needs to be around , probably for thoe non-linux users ...

//btw , its funny when you play ogg in classic mac ... ^_^


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I personally think that this DRM stuff will turn out to be .. Betamax. Or 8-track tapes.

For those of you who {don't remember | don't know | weren't born yet}, Betamax was a clearly-superior video tape format. But it lost to VHS, for whatever reason, and if you happened to have a Beta deck, or Beta movies, you couldn't give 'em away. Same thing happened to 8-track, which gave better sound than cassette although you couldn't reverse it.

The DRM stuff is pretty much all that's left of the original concept for Vista, five long years ago, and I'm afraid that those folks tried so hard to make their precious material uncopyable that they wound up making it unsaleable.

Meanwhile, Apple stepped in and owned the entire game.

Do you really want to have to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade your computer .. just to play music or movies on it? No, you can buy a ~$200 "Apple TV" .. play music with a cheap iPod .. even buy or rent plastic discs for a while.

The movie-industry has fixated on the idea of "a network full of thieves," instead of realizing that it's for the most part "a network full of customers." Who won't buy Betamax [again].

If you do that, the DRM people win. Apple DRM is just as oppressive as MS DRM.

Another recent article on the subject.

I don't think we have too much to worry about since the media industries still haven't learned how to make secure software... I read that HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs have been cracked and leaked over the net.

DRM is screwed. A strong security depends NOT upon secrecy but upon the mathematical complexity required to obtain the key. But the key has to be where the attacker is--that is--in the main memory of the attacker/customer's system, and thus it can be easily obtained. But when companies get to the point where they consider the customers to be the attacker, then there is a serious problem.

@sundialsvcs: Like others have said, Apple is pretty damn nasty when it comes to DRM too.

But yeah, Vista is nothing but a big safe, and the safe is empty.

But where will people go? To most, Apple is waaaay over priced. 1000$+ for an iMac, or 600$/700$ for a mac mini that also needs a monitor, keyboard, speakers, mouse. And then the OS upgrades, jebus, the last ones were like 100$ each, weren't they? That piles up! And the fact that they don't let you run OS X on non-apple hardware...

You know, when my objective is to buy and play movies and music, I really don't care. I have about a thousand CDs in my collection, all of which I own. I play music constantly, and I have bought every one.

What I'm saying, simply, is that I'm not going to buy or use an expensive computer to watch video. And I'm not going to buy into a first-generation system that, I think, is doomed to be Betamax. I want to preserve my investment; not only any new ones that I make, but my existing lawfully-purchased property as well.

I personally don't have a problem with the idea of digital rights. I own copyrights and trademarks and make my primary living from them. But I'm not going to buy into a hobbled implementation that limits my choices, because I know as a consumer that I want my investment to be protected and my choices to be expanded, and I know that other consumers feel likewise.

And, I prefer a purpose-built tool for a purpose. A "DVD player" without the DVD. Cool.

"Way overpriced?" Suit yourself, but first, look again. $1,000 is not out-of-line for a computer like that. I have three. It's a "tool for the job" and a heck of a good one, and each machine has paid for itself many times. Suit yourself, but it's the slickest Unix machine I have ever used. Speaking only for myself, I have never regretted my purchase(s).

(P.S: Three OS/X machines, a Windows-XP machine, two Linux boxes... last count. All bought for a purpose and all fulfilling that purpose.)

>> "Originally Posted by Jorophose
@sundialsvcs: Like others have said, Apple is pretty damn nasty when it comes to DRM too.
But yeah, Vista is nothing but a big safe, and the safe is empty.
But where will people go? To most, Apple is waaaay over priced. 1000$+ for an iMac, or 600$/700$ for a mac mini that also needs a monitor, keyboard, speakers, mouse. And then the OS upgrades, jebus, the last ones were like 100$ each, weren't they? That piles up! And the fact that they don't let you run OS X on non-apple hardware..."

now you know what suits you ... ^_^


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