06.30.13

Microsoft and Its Partner Netflix Pollute the Web With DRM Because Silverlight is Dead

Posted in DRM, Microsoft at 5:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Time to eject Jaffe

Jeff Jaffe at the event announcing the Microsoft/Novell deal (2006)

Summary: Jeff Jaffe, who became (in)famous for designing the Microsoft/Novell deal which started Linux ‘patent tax’, is now threatening to pollute the Web with DRM because Microsoft and its satellite say so

JEFF JAFFE is poison inside the W3C. He not only promotes software patents but also Microsoft software such as .NET, Mono, and Moonlight. He really loves software patents, and wants more of them. How can such a guy have been given the CEO position at the W3C, whose founder, Tim Berners-Lee, is so openly hostile towards software patents [1, 2]? This never made sense.

Over in the DRM category we have many stories which warn about the main ‘advancement’ in the Windows Vista series, including Vista 8. That massive failure of an operating system gets a “say for pay” review from Microsoft mouthpieces, apparently some who troll writers. “Enderle is still being hired,” iphk says. “Hadn’t seen him for a while.”

Yes, well, and if one talks to actual professionals in the market, hatred of Vista 8 is evident. As Pogson puts it:

Two pictures speak 1000 words here. Consider share of page-views according to StatCounter for the United Kingdom from 2008 to 2013. First there was growth for GNU/Linux and then stagnation for years as “7″ seemed good enough for many. Along comes “8″ and both “7″ sees a drop to a plateau and GNU/Linux sees a spike. People are choosing and enjoying that they finally have a visible choice. That’s the result of the ubiquity of small cheap computers running */Linux and the horror that is “8″ for people who love the desktop.

[...]

What GNU/Linux lacks in salesmen, M$ makes up for with its salesmen serving as software-designers. Now, GNU/Linux is finding its way onto retail shelves and onto UK desks. According to these data, about 10% as many choose GNU/Linux as choose “8″ but about 15% as many as choose “7″ are choosing GNU/Linux. The future is a lot higher than ~1% GNU/Linux because those choosing GNU/Linux are just the early adopters and they have friends and associates who will see, at last, that GNU/Linux works for them. I expect to live long enough to see ~30% going with GNU/Linux. There’s no telling where the trend will end once it reaches about 10%.

Microsoft sure lost its momentum and Silverlight died because, taking mobile devices in account as well, Windows has minority market share. Netflix, which has a CEO strongly connected to Microsoft, is dropping Silverlight and is now trying to pollute web standards with DRM, demonstrating this with Microsoft to advance Vista 8:

Netflix today announced that it has finally taken the first step towards ditching Silverlight for HTML5, largely thanks to Microsoft, no less. The company has been working closely with the Internet Explorer team to implement its proposed “Premium Video Extensions” in IE11 on Windows 8.1, meaning if you install the operating system preview released today, you can watch Netflix content using HTML5 right now.

Blame that lackey from Novell (the man behind the Microsoft deal, Jaffe), who probably needs to be ousted already because he thinks he works for Hollywood, not for the Web. Jaffe now works for the W3C as CEO and Dr, Glyn Moody calls his claims “rubbish,” adding that the “W3C [is] getting desperate” (see Twitter for original quote).

Here is an offensive article from ZDNet. It parrots Jaffe as saying: “The web would be in danger of losing content if it were to turn its back on DRM-protected media, said Dr Jeff Jaffe, CEO of the web standards body W3C.”

Nonsense.

As another article put it in the headline, Jaffe implies “Developers need to quit worrying and learn to love DRM”.

Slahsdot did some Microsoft promotion over this and the FSF campaign took it up a notch with a new push to cancel Netflix.

Soon enough (maybe next week) we’ll have an interview about this with Richard Stallman. █

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

The European Patent Office (EPO) Wastes a Lot of Money on External PR Agencies for Battistelli's 'Heist'

The EPO's management is once again scattering/throwing EPO budget at PR agencies and media companies (publishers/broadcasters) to disseminate a bunch of puff pieces and virtually ignore the very obvious conflict of interest, which should be a scandal on par with that of FIFA (resulting in the arrest of its boss, Mr. Blatter)
Today's EPO is Not Compatible With the Law and It's Grossly Incompatible With Truth and Justice

Today, once again, the EPO openly advocates software patents while media promotes loopholes (notably hype waves)
Quick Mention: As Expected, the US Supreme Court Cements PTAB's Role With Trump-Appointed Gorsuch Dissenting

Oil States has been decided and it's very good news for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); even Conservatives-leaning Justices support PTAB
Links 24/4/2018: Preview of Crostini, Introducing Heptio Gimbal, OPNsense 18.1.6

Links for the day
Patent Maximalists Step Things Up With Director Andrei Iancu and It's Time for Scientists to Fight Back

Science and technology don't seem to matter as much as the whims of the patent (litigation) 'industry', at least judging by recent actions taken by Andrei Iancu (following a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee)
Mythology About Patents in the East

Misconceptions (or deliberate propaganda) about patent policy in the east poison the debate and derail a serious, facts-based discussion about it
Patent Trolls Watch: Red River Innovations, Bradium Technologies/General Patent, and Wordlogic

A quick look at some patent trolls that made the news this Monday; we are still seeing a powerful response to such trolls, whose momentum is slipping owing to the good work of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
Holding Benoît Battistelli Accountable After the EPO

The many abuses and offenses committed by Mr. Battistelli whilst he enjoyed diplomatic immunity can and should be brought up as that immunity expires in two months; a good start would be contacting his colleagues, who might not be aware of the full spectrum of his abuses
Links 23/4/2018: Second RC of Linux 4.17 and First RC of Mesa 18.1

Links for the day
The Good Work of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the Latest Attempts to Undermine It

A week's roundup of news about PTAB, which is eliminating many bad (wrongly-granted) patents and is therefore becoming "enemy number one" to those who got accustomed to blackmailing real (productive) firms with their questionable patents
District Courts' Patent Cases, Including the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX/TXED), in a Nutshell

A roundup of patent cases in 'low courts' of the United States, where patents are being reasoned about or objected to while patent law firms make a lot of money
The Federal Circuit's (CAFC) Decisions Are Being Twisted by Patent Propaganda Sites Which Merely Cherry-Pick Cases With Outcomes That Suit Them

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) continues to reject the vast majority of software patents, citing Section 101 in many such cases, but the likes of Managing IP, Patently-O, IAM and Watchtroll only selectively cover such cases (instead they’re ‘pulling a Berkheimer’ or some similar name-dropping)
Patents Roundup: Metaswitch, GENBAND, Susman, Cisco, Konami, High 5 Games, HTC, and Nintendo

A look at existing legal actions, the application of 35 U.S.C. § 101, and questionable patents that are being pursued on software (algorithms or "software infrastructure")
In Maxon v Funai the High 'Patent Court' (CAFC) Reaffirms Disdain for Software Patents, Which Are Nowadays Harder to Get and Then Defend

With the wealth of decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) wherein software patents get discarded (Funai being the latest example), the public needs to ask itself whether patent law firms are honest when they make claims about resurgence of software patents by 'pulling a Berkheimer' or coming up with terms like “Berkheimer Effect”
Today's European Patent Office Works for Patent Extremists and for Team UPC Rather Than for Europe or for Innovation

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) and other patent maximalists who have nothing to do with Europe, helped by a malicious and rather clueless politician called Benoît Battistelli, are turning the EPO into a patent-printing machine rather than an examination office as envisioned by the EPC (founders) and member states
The EPO is Dying and Those Who Have Killed It Are Becoming Very Rich in the Process

Following the footsteps of Ron Hovsepian at Novell, Battistelli at the EPO (along with Team Battistelli) may mean the end of the EPO as we know it (or the end altogether); one manager and a cabal of confidants make themselves obscenely rich by basically sacrificing the very organisation they were entrusted to serve
Short: Just Keep Repeating the Lie (“Quality”) Until People Might Believe It

Battistelli’s patent-printing bureau (EPO without quality control) keeps lying about the quality of patents by repeating the word “quality” a lot of times, including no less than twice in the summary alone
Shelston IP Keeps Pressuring IP Australia to Allow Software Patents and Harm Software Development

Shelston IP wants exactly the opposite of what's good for Australia; it just wants what's good for itself, yet it habitually pretends to speak for a productive industry (nothing could be further from the truth)
Is Andy Ramer's Departure the End of Cantor Fitzgerald's Patent Trolls-Feeding Operations and Ambitions?

The managing director of the 'IP' group at Cantor Fitzgerald is leaving, but it does not yet mean that patent trolls will be starved/deprived access to patents
EPO Hoards Billions of Euros (Taken From the Public), Decreases Quality to Get More Money, Reduces Payments to Staff

The EPO continues to collect money from everyone, distributes bogus/dubious patents that usher patent trolls into Europe (to cost European businesses billions in the long run), and staff of the EPO faces more cuts while EPO management swims in cash and perks
Short: Calling Battistelli's Town (Where He Works) “Force for Innovation” to Justify the Funneling of EPO Funds to It

How the EPO‘s management ‘explained’ (or sought to rationalise) to staff its opaque decision to send a multi-million, one-day ceremony to Battistelli’s own theatre only weeks before he leaves
Short: EPO Bribes the Media and Then Brags About the Paid-for Outcome to Staff

The EPO‘s systematic corruption of the media at the expense of EPO stakeholders — not to mention hiring of lawyers to bully media which exposes EPO corruption — in the EPO’s own words (amended by us)
Short: EPO's “Working Party for Quality” is to Quality What the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea” is to Democracy

To maintain the perception (illusion) that the EPO still cares about patent quality — and in order to disseminate this lie to EPO staff — a puff piece with the above heading/photograph was distributed to thousands of examiners in glossy paper form
Short: This Spring's Message From the EPO's President (Corrected)

A corrected preface from the Liar in Chief, the EPO's notoriously crooked and dishonest President
Short: Highly Misleading and Unscientific Graphics From the EPO for an Illusion of Growth

A look at the brainwash that EPO management is distributing to staff and what's wrong with it
Short: EPO Explains to Examiners Why They Should and Apparently Can Grant Software Patents (in Spite of EPC)

Whether it calls it "CII" or "ICT" or "Industry 4.0" or "4IR", the EPO's management continues to grant software patents and attempts to justify this to itself (and to staff)
Links 21/4/2018: Linux 4.9.95, FFmpeg 4.0, OpenBSD Foundation 2018 Fundraising Campaign

Links for the day
As USPTO Director, Andrei Iancu Gives Three Months for Public Comments on 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Software Patenting Impacted)

Weeks after starting his job as head of the US patent office, to our regret but not to our surprise, Iancu asks whether to limit examiners' ability to reject abstract patent applications citing 35 U.S.C. § 101 (relates to Alice and Mayo)
In Keith Raniere v Microsoft Both Sides Are Evil But for Different Reasons

Billing for patent lawyers reveals an abusive strategy from Microsoft, which responded to abusive patent litigation (something which Microsoft too has done for well over a decade)
Links 20/4/2018: Atom 1.26, MySQL 8.0

Links for the day