04.14.13
Posted in DRM, Microsoft at 3:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Game over for Microsoft, at least judging by the exodus of managers in recent years; Microsoft resorts to desperate and corrupt practices which turn even former employees against it
SO, Xbox Live is down, which is rather symbolic of what’s going on at Xbox world because yet another top-level manager joins the exodus at Microsoft (we mostly tracked departures in 2009-2010 owing to time being available for this task). “Sorry,” he said, “I don’t get the drama around having an ‘always-on’ console. Every device is ‘always-on’. It’s the world we live in.” We alluded to it the other day as it had become a major issue and probably resulted in this resignation over DRM.
Xbox is a mess. Microsoft was betting on the project as though it’s a ticket into the hardware business, but it’s a failure that loses billions of dollars. Microsoft is getting so desperate now that it is filing an antitrust complaint against Linux, so as my online friend put it, Microsoft needs a new straw.
Killing off Linux and Android, by proxy. Oh, I am making a note to stock up on the popcorn. This case will be short-lived but quite entertaining particularly with Pamela Jones sorting things out and letting everyone understand the ‘truth’.
Microsoft is utterly transparent and avoid direct ‘liability’ with a paper tiger corporation doing their misdeeds in the name of ‘FairSearch’. In the name of ‘Fair’? Here’s a straw Microsoft.
Remember taxation-related evasions at Microsoft? Well, former Microsoft employee Jeff Reifman, who warmed up to FOSS on the face of it, is still an activist against Microsoft. He writes: “After granting Microsoft amnesty on its $1.5 billion Nevada tax dodge, state tax collectors are aggressively targeting Seattle dance clubs and night clubs over an obscure ‘opportunity to dance’ tax. Auditors search the Internet to find out whether people dance at specific clubs. One clubowner reports an auditor told him: ‘You have the opportunity to dance, and we verified it by 8 or 10 different references on Yelp.’”
There is more here. Even former Microsoft employees are sickened by Microsoft’s behaviour. IT is definitely noteworthy. █
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02.15.13
Posted in DRM, Microsoft at 8:24 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The BBC promotes the same DRM push that Microsoft lobbied for so as to accommodate DRM in HTML5
DR. GLYN Moody may have been misled by copyleft spin, but he does pay attention to a shameful statement from the MSBBC (Microsoft BBC, as many managers there are from Microsoft UK) — a statement which supports Microsoft and its DRM alter-ego. To quote Moody:
That the companies behind this extraordinary idea of adding DRM to HTML – Google, Microsoft and Netflix – are more interested in their control than your freedom will come as no surprise; after all, they are profit-based concerns, and money talks. But the last organisation I would have expected – or, perhaps, hoped – to see adding its support to this fundamental perversion of the open Web would be dear old Auntie – the BBC. And yet here is a submission from last week where it does precisely that:
The BBC supports the publication of the first draft of the Encrypted Media Extensions Proposal.
The outragous thing is that British taxpayers are required — if not forced — to fund the BBC while the BBC deceives the public on behalf of megalomaniacs/plutocrats that bribe for it [1, 2, 3]. █
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01.31.13
Posted in DRM, Microsoft at 3:55 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft and an ally want DRM in web standards
After Microsoft had infiltrated W3C [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] Microsoft pushed DRM fonts and now there is this (also Microsoft proxy Netflix):
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A few days ago, a new proposal was put forward in the HTML Working Group (HTML WG) by Microsoft, Netflix, and Google to take DRM in HTML5 to the next stage of standardization at W3C. This triggered another uproar about the morality and ethics behind DRM and building it into the Web. There are good arguments about morality/ethics on both sides of the debate but ultimately, the HTML WG will decide whether or not to pursue the specification based on technical merit. I (@manusporny) am a member of the HTML WG. I was also the founder of a start-up that focused on building a legal, peer-to-peer, content distribution network for music and movies. It employed DRM much like the current DRM in HTML5 proposal. During the course of 8 years of technical development, we had talks with many of the major record labels. I have first-hand knowledge of the problem, and building a technical solution to address the problem.
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This is the fundamental reason why DRM is doomed and should be discarded: the only people it annoys are the ones who have tried to support creators by acquiring legal copies. How stupid is that?
Microsoft infiltrators seeking to hijack the voice of FOSS (recent examples in [1, 2, 3]) are an equally disturbing problem, but let’s not let Microsoft ruin the Web again. Microsoft is a ruthless, unethical company. Never trust its claims that it “changed”. █
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04.21.12
Posted in DRM, Microsoft at 8:54 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft admits that it cannot quite sell Microsoft-branded locked-down computers
THE XBox 360 was nothing less than an attack on general-purpose computing. To an extent, phones and tablets achieve the same thing — a very dangerous downward spiral/decline of freedom, even if they run Linux, the universal kernel. Putting aside the latter, the latest figures from Microsoft are as dubious as always, but they do seem to show very serious problems — a hole in the company’s pocket:
With the news that Microsoft is also seeing a decline in 360 sales with an excuse that people are holding back for the 720 it would seem that there will be many a sweaty shirt day for Steve Ballmer in 2012 – he’s going to have to dance like he’s never danced before to get Microsoft going in a product sense.
Microsoft has been losing billions of dollars online and the loss is growing with no signs of a rebound. Expect Microsoft to buy more patents, then attack more and more with patents (threats that result in settlement are an attack). █
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12.28.11
Posted in Apple, DRM, Europe at 7:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Bad Apple is doing bad things in HADOPI land using blackmail (allegedly claiming it “it would pull its business out of France” unless its demands were met)
According to the following Cablegate cable, Apple uses a baclkmail tactics (threatening withdrawal) to affect — for the worse of course — copyright law in France. Quoting the relevant parts: “In press statements, Apple said that the French copyright law amounted to “state-sponsored piracy” and that it would pull its business out of France. This declaration had an unfortunate impact. It heartened claims by free-software advocates and politicians who said that the opening up of DRM would benefit makers of DRM systems by enabling them to prosecute competitors as facilitating piracy. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez’s press comments saying that while he needed to take a look at the legislation, he supported protecting intellectual property rights were widely interpreted to be supportive of Apple, and French pro-interoperability groups reacted disapprovingly. The Odebi League, a citizen’s action group defending the rights of Internet users, told Apple to “mind its business and not meddle into the French legislative process” and pointed out that “if Apple wishes to do business in France, it has to respect the rights that the French enjoy.” Some senators said they regretted that Apple did not appeal to them directly and interpreted it as a lack of interest.”
Shame on Apple.
Here is the Cablegate in ite entirety:
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 003153
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPT FOR E, EB, EB/IPE, EUR/WE
DEPT PLS PASS USTR FOR JSANFORD/VESPINEL/RMEYERS
COMMERCE FOR SJACOBS, SWILSON
DOJ FOR CHARROP, FMARSHALL, RHESSE
COMMERCE PLEASE PASS USPTO
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIPR ETRD PGOV FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE'S DIGITAL COPYRIGHT BILL: SENATE VOTES TO SOFTEN
INTEROPERABILITY BUT LOW PENALTIES REMAIN UNCHANGED
REF. PARIS 01847
¶1. This is an action request. See paragraph 13
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY. The French Senate approved in the early hours of
May 11 the GOF draft law on digital copyright, in a format which
leaves unchanged the National Assembly's decriminalized penalty
regime, the principle (if not the requirement) of interoperability,
and the so-called "Vivendi Universal Amendment" criminalizing
peer-to-peer software publishing. The draft law adopted by the
Senate largely takes the sting out of interoperability by laying out
general guidelines -- which no longer require Digital Rights
Management (DRM) vendors to divulge industrial secrets to their
competitors -- and creating a new independent authority to decide on
the scope of interoperability and the "right to the exception for
private copy." The newly adopted text, known as the Law on Author's
Rights and Related Rights in the Information Society, generally
abbreviated as DADVSI in French is a step that would bring France in
line with the 2001 EU Digital Copyright Directive.Over the next
month, the text will likely go to a reconciliation conference at the
end of the month, and be signed into law before the summer. END
SUMMARY.
Senate Approval And Next Steps
------------------------------
¶3. (SBU) The DADVSI draft law was adopted by the French upper house
on May 11, with 164 votes in favor, 128 against, and 37 abstentions.
All the votes in favor came from representatives of the right of
center government UMP party. The text will now go before a joint
committee of both houses of the French Parliament to be reconciled,
and for final approval under the current Government "fast-track"
emergency procedure, which requires only one reading by both houses.
Upon completion of the legislative procedure, the draft bill will
be submitted to President Jacques Chirac for signature some time
before the summer. France, which had tabled implementing
legislation in November 2003, is the last country, with Spain, to
transpose the EU Copyright Directive.
Exceptions to Exclusive Copyrights:
----------------------------------
¶4. (SBU) Exceptions to exclusive copyrights, for public libraries
and archives, will now have to fulfil the "three-step test," i.e.
that they be confined to special cases, not conflict with a normal
exploitation of the work, and not unreasonably prejudice the
legitimate interests of the right holder. Education and research
have been added to the restrictive lists of exceptions in the
Senate, following the threat of a campaign of civil disobedience "in
any way they deemed useful and relevant" by over 2000 members of the
French scientific community.
¶5. (SBU) The more traditonal exception for private copy, an
essential feature of French "droit d'auteur," which allows French
residents to freely make copies of works (except software) for their
private use (and that of their family and friends) has also been
refreshed. The number of copies allowed as part of that exception
will now be decided by a new high regulatory authority, in charge of
outlining the contours of the private copy exception as well as the
new interoperability principle. The new authority will also work
hand-in-hand with the already existing Copyright Commission, which
sets the rates and conditions for the "tax on private copy" meant to
address the losses incurred by copyright holders. This tax is levied
on blank media (audio and video cassettes, CD, DVD, as well as
memory and hard drives in portable media players). While most of
this tax goes to rightholders, a quarter of it, representing some 40
million euros a year (USD 50 million), is used to finance cultural
events and festivals throughout France.
Penalties Remain Unchanged
--------------------------
¶6. (SBU) The system of "gradual sanctions", i.e. decriminalized
fines, has been confirmed by the Senate as "fair and balanced" --
despite efforts by one Senator and former Minister of Trade and
Industry, Gerard Longuet, to switch from what he described as
"organized indifference" to stiffer sentences. Culture Minister
Donnedieu de Vabres reiterated on this occasion that the purpose of
the bill was not to go after offenders but to ensure the protection
of works. As a result, non-commercial downloads are subject to the
lowest fine in France's Penal Code (38 euros), the equivalent of a
traffic ticket, instead of the original three years' imprisonment
and 300,000 euro fine proposed earlier by the GOF. These heavy
penalities in the first GOF draft bill created a major outburst in
the National Assembly, eventually leading to the adoption of the
radical "global licence." In the words of one Socialist and
technologically savvy member of the National Assembly, it would be
wrong "to describe the eight million people who have downloaded
music from the Internet as delinquents." On May 11, the Culture
Minister announced that an "index" of all protected works would be
set up to enforce the three goals of the bill: respect of copyright,
private copy and interoperability.
Softening Interoperability
--------------------------
¶7. (SBU) The Senate has proposed largely weakening the National
Assembly's radical ideas on the DRM technology. Two amendments in
the National Assembly's version had stated that providers of DRM
systems should provide the necessary technical documentation to ANY
party needing it to ensure that interoperability, including the
source code. This was interpreted as a direct attack on Apple's
iTunes platform and their iPod players.
¶8. (SBU) In press statements, Apple said that the French copyright
law amounted to "state-sponsored piracy" and that it would pull its
business out of France. This declaration had an unfortunate impact.
It heartened claims by free-software advocates and politicians who
said that the opening up of DRM would benefit makers of DRM systems
by enabling them to prosecute competitors as facilitating piracy.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez's press comments saying
that while he needed to take a look at the legislation, he supported
protecting intellectual property rights were widely interpreted to
be supportive of Apple, and French pro-interoperability groups
reacted disapprovingly. The Odebi League, a citizen's action group
defending the rights of Internet users, told Apple to "mind its
business and not meddle into the French legislative process" and
pointed out that "if Apple wishes to do business in France, it has
to respect the rights that the French enjoy." Some senators said
they regretted that Apple did not appeal to them directly and
interpreted it as a lack of interest.
Creating A New Regulatory Authority
-----------------------------------
¶9. (SBU) The Senate bill proposes a new regulatory authority to
examine the question of private copies and interoperability. This
new seven-member High Authority, modelled along the lines of
France's independent regulatory bodies in the electricity and gas
sectors (CREG), and in the telecoms and electronic commerce sector
(ARCEP), replaces the much-decried "college of mediators" initiated
by the National Assembly. Its responsibilities, much like its
guidelines, have been left as open as possible to allow for the fast
pace of technological change. At the same time, prodded by
embattled Culture Minister Donnedieu de Vabre and Villepin
administration, the Senate Cultural Affairs Committee developed a
text designed to meet as little opposition as possible from the
National Assembly once in the joint committee for conciliation.
These considerations explain the current text's willingness to pass
the difficult decisions on to the new authority.
Previous Support For Interoperability and Copying
--------------------------------------------- ----
¶10. (SBU) Public discussion of DRM and its effect on the private
copy exception have been particularly vivid in France. French
consumer associations initiated and often won court cases where DRM
restricted private copying -- a sacrosanct exception under French
copyright law.
Over the past three years, French consumer organizations have
initiated a number of court cases dealing with complaints of
consumers about CDs and DVDs that could not be copied and ripped
because of technical protection measures in place. In dealing with
the cases, French courts had developed the argument that the ability
to play a CD or a DVD on different devices constituted an essential
characteristic of a CD or DVD, and that producers of such devices
could be held liable for misleading the consumer in case of
incompatibilities. This first step towards establishing the right
to interoperability was confirmed earlier this year, when a Paris
Court of Appeals concluded that DRMs must respect the private copy
exception.
NEXT STEPS
----------
¶11. (SBU) Next steps include the drafting of implementing
regulations, which would also give the GOF (and stakeholders) an
opportunity to tweak the legislation, particularly regarding
penalties and sentencing. This is expected to take place over the
summer. The GOF will draft and implement these by decree. Other
possibilities for modification, according to lawyers, include a
constitutional challenge, which could come on any number of
articles. We understand that the Commission will eventually examine
all the EU member-states' transpositions of the directive at some
point over the next year. Finally, the GOF notes that the law has a
"review clause" of 18 months, requiring the government to provide
the Parliament with an evaluation of its efficacy.
COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST
--------------------------
¶12. (SBU). France is one of the last countries to fulfil its
obligation to transpose this 2002 EU Directive. In making only a
minimal effort, many Senators seemed to be acknowledging how quickly
technology had moved since then 2002, and during the debates, French
Parliamentarians underscored the irony of a belated implementation
of a directive which the EU Commission is reportedly already in the
process of re-examining. In our conversations over the last weeks
where we raised our serious concerns over the quality and direction
of this controversial bill, French government officials and
observers had sought to reassure us and other stakeholders. We were
told (see reftels) that the Senate version would address many if not
most of industry's concerns. Senate legislative staff was thought
more pro-business, more technologically savvy, and less ideological.
Industry observers, many of whom where involved in a low-profile but
intense effort to reshape the bill with key amendments were
optimistic as well. Working with French industry allies, they
proposed close to 300 amendments. However, with the President and
Prime Minister under political siege, the government and the
majority party were in a hurry to get this complicated and
troublesome bill off their to-do list. By placing the bill on a
legislative fast-track, the government could be assured that the
conciliation conference would be over quickly. This political
pressure resulted in some improvements, such as interoperability,
where industry analysts are somewhat relieved at the results, but a
number of crucial elements remain unchanged, notably the lack of
deterrent penalties.
¶13. (SBU) COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST. The next six months will
provide some limited opportunities to fine-tune the bill, notably in
the drafting of implementing regulations, which the GOF can issue by
decree. Other options would be to raise examination of the
legislation in light of other EU member state transpositions as well
as WIPO and TRIPS commitments. Post would appreciate Washington's
cleared interagency guidance, including any legal analysis regarding
the legislation's impact. End Comment.
Stapleton
If there was threat that Apple “would pull its business out of France,” let them. Better yet, boycott the company in France. █
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01.12.11
Posted in DRM, Microsoft, Windows at 5:00 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Co-authored with G. Forbes
Summary: Vista Phony 7 [sic], Microsoft’s latest platform for mobile devices, has serious new deficiencies
MICROSOFT RUSHED Vista Phone 7, its ridiculous cross-vendor response to Android, some while ago. It had also been intended to compete with the Blackberry and hypePhone, controlled solely by RIM and Apple respectively. Signs of VP7′s immaturity continue to show, with this critical bug being reported: “Someone found out the hard way what happens when you install more than 15 applications that use the push notification system in Windows Phone 7. To put it bluntly: it stops working.”
“Microsoft has quickly become a laughing stock in the area of smart phone software.”When it comes to application sales, Microsoft cannot realise just how badly they did with the tiny userbase. Pouring salt on these wounds, the Windows Phone Marketplace DRM has been cracked anyway (more here):
“WPCentral has been given a proof of concept which shows them breaking through WP7 Marketplace’s DRM. The weakness has apparently been known to developers for some time, and WPCentral has given the information to Microsoft, and are working to patch the hole.”
Microsoft has quickly become a laughing stock in the area of smart phone software. Mediocre security is indicative of substandard programming, and with this DRM proof-of-concept crack, a solution has already arrived from the outside:
Tobias, the white hat hacker who recently revealed a proof-of-concept crack for the copy protection on Windows Phone 7 apps has taken steps to develop a solution for his own hack. His FreeMarketplace code (only 65.5kb in size) took only about 6 hours to develop, but in the process demonstrated how easily the Microsoft’s app DRM copy-protection for WP7 could be stripped. The crack was not intended to harm the WP7 Marketplace, but was intended as a critique of Microsoft’s seemingly lax security. To help protect developers in the interim, while Microsoft develops its own solution, Tobias has posted code that developers can deploy in their apps to help protect them from piracy.
Nick Farrell explains that this “software exploits a flaw in raw installation packages or “XAP” files, which means they can be freely downloaded. This works because the Zune client software downloads XML files with all the package locations to enable application browsing and installation, and both the XML and XAP files are served without restriction.” Microsoft has had problems with managing operating system permissions for a long, long time. █
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Posted in DRM, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Windows at 3:32 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft is clinging onto ARM, having broken just about any other market segment — including processors with Microsoft software embedded in them — so as to harm and discriminate against Linux
Microsoft’s management is leaving the ship very rapidly and the CEO must show that he is doing something to turn things around. We believe that Ballmer’s time is running out. The problem with Windows on ARM is obvious and we explained this before. Yes, ARM will fail for Windows, for reasons that so many clever people like Robert Pogson and Bradford White have explained since December when CES rumours were spread. ISVs support is one of the key problems. Glyn Moody claims that “Windows turns up late, but no mention of the ARM stalwart Linux [in this article]: classy” (yes, the corporate press pays attention mostly to Apple and Microsoft — a sort of false dichotomy). Even Microsoft boosters cannot make sense of it:
Microsoft’s announcement yesterday at CES that its next version of Windows will run on the ARM chip architecture was the wrong message at the wrong place, said an industry analyst.
“I’m baffled,” said Michael Cherry, the analyst at Kirkland, Wash.-based Directions on Microsoft whose specialty is Microsoft’s operating systems. “I just don’t get what they get from this.”
Cherry was talking about the news Wednesday from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that Microsoft will support the ARM chip line, which is prominent in smartphones and most recently, Apple’s iPad tablet.
As Groklaw wrote in response to it, “[i]t’s baffling unless you stop and ask yourself: what runs on ARM already? Just like Microsoft tried, with some success, to kill Linux on netbooks when Linux got there first, it now offers a message – don’t buy Linux on ARM, because we’ll have something for you soon.” Groklaw has a point here. For background, see older posts such as:
All that Microsoft achieves here is alienation from Intel/AMD. Both x86 heavyweights are already embracing MeeGo, which was demonstrated on numerous devices at CES (we supplied many links in our daily aggregations). “Microsoft Deal With ARM Seals Divorce With Intel” is how one writer summarised it:
The announcement at CES 2011 that Microsoft would deliver a full version of Windows 8 for the ARM architecture is one of the most defining moments in CES 2011, one which could change the dynamics of the technology market forever by offering a credible alternative to x86.
Microsoft became a licensee of ARM back in July 2010, only a few months after Intel joined forces with Nokia to launch its own operating system, Meego.
One reader asked the other day, “Did you catch the DRAM price crash, Roy? It’s like Vista all over again.”
Apparently, hardware companies too are starting to realise that Microsoft and Windows are not their friends. Profit margins go to a software company whose work is inherently abundant (yet made expensive and limited because of artificial restrictions which only really apply to hardware). To quote from IDG:
DRAM chip prices reached a one-year low on Tuesday and approached their cheapest ever due to a post-holiday oversupply. The cheap memory chips are pushing PC prices lower too, a Taiwan-based trading platform said.
The reality behind Vista 7 indicates that supply will likely outpace demand. Microsoft shares fake figures about Windows, which lead to unrealistic expectations of hardware sales.
ARM’s CEO was recently interviewed at CES and here is his response to the question: “When you did start talking to Microsoft?”
East: We’ve been working with Microsoft for about 13 years. It would be ludicrous for me to sit here and deny that we’ve been trying to persuade Microsoft to do something like this for many years.
Competition between the chipmakers is especially important because it keeps them serving their customers rather than engage in price-fixing, which requires a conspiracy. As we pointed out some days ago in the daily links, Intel had begun working ever more zealously for the media conglomerates by putting unacceptable DRM in silicon. The subsequent backlash was so serious that Intel needed to come up with spin that is essentially lies, at least in part. Groklaw, for example, is no friend of Intel (partly because of the OLPC fiasco) and it caught the spin piece from Intel, wherein Intel says: “There have been stories describing Intel Insider as a ‘DRM’ technology. DRM means ‘Digital Rights Management’ and is used to control the use of digital media by controlling access, and preventing the ability to copy media such as movies.”
“Competition between the chipmakers is especially important because it keeps them serving their customers rather than engage in price-fixing, which requires a conspiracy.”Watch Intel misusing the word “pirates” when claiming: “Think of it as an armoured truck carrying the movie from the Internet to your display, it keeps the data safe from pirates, but still lets you enjoy your legally acquired movie in the best possible quality. This technology is built into the new Intel chips.”
As Groklaw put it when responding to the claim above: “So it controls access. Check. What about preventing copying? If it’s not DRM, can I make copies after I enjoy my legally acquired movie? If not, how is it not DRM again?” What a waste of silicon/transistors and what a waste of energy (the toll is passed to the user). Intel goes further than this by integrating Microsoft’s DirectX 11 in Ivy Bridge chips:
Intel will integrate DirectX 11 graphics technology in its next generation of laptop and desktop chips based on the Ivy Bridge architecture, a company executive said on Thursday.
DirectX 11 includes a set of tools that can generate more realistic images when playing games on PCs running Windows 7. Intel will integrate the technology in next-generation laptop and desktop chips, as use of the technology in applications will spread by then, said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group at Intel, in an interview on Thursday with the IDG News Service during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
“Microsoft has pushed DirectX into Intel’s silicon,” explained to us a reader, “it is also claimed that AMD vandalized some cheapo processors that way too. [...] x86 to suck worse than ever.”
It will suck more energy at the user’s expense (power bills), for the benefit of Microsoft and the copyright cartel. That’s just why we desparately need more architectures like ARM, which would not tolerate wasteful chip designs because of its target markets (battery life is king there).
Mary Jo Foley suggests that Windows Embedded Compact may die as a result of the announcement from ARM:
But has Microsoft decided to stop touting Embedded Compact as a good operating system for tablets and slates, instead putting all of its eggs in the Windows basket? If that is the case, I’d say there’s little doubt that the possibility of a Windows Phone OS tablet is DOA. Instead, the most those of us who like the Windows Phone UI can hope is that the MoSH (modern shell) UI for Windows 8 takes a lot from the Windows Phone 7 interface.
It’s all just fluff from Mary Jo Foley and many of the above are either “DOA” (dead on arrival) or vapourware (Vista 8 for example). Microsoft’s ‘new’ mobile platform has already failed and as Jan Wildeboer put it the other day: “More important than Android passing iPhone is fact that MSFT market share actually goes down, not up!”
“MSFT said that Windows 8 ARM version will run only on Qualcom, TI an NVIDIA CPUs. No Marvell, no Samsung, no Freescale,” one of our readers added. Well, it is vapourware and even for something that does not exist (Vista Eight) it sounds underwhelming. Remember for example that Microsoft keeps talking about it without ever showing a prototype and whenever Microsoft does this it by far overplays the characteristics (as put down in a wishlist rather than specifications). Watch Mary Jo Foley promoting this vapourware. It’s her job.
In summary, Microsoft’s announcements regarding ARM and Vista 8 are probably just intended to harm competitors like Linux and not necessarily deliver anything significant any time soon, if ever. █
“The purpose of announcing early like this is to freeze the market at the OEM and ISV level. In this respect it is JUST like the original Windows announcement…
“One might worry that this will help Sun because we will just have vaporware, that people will stop buying 486 machines, that we will have endorsed RISC but not delivered… So, Scott, do you really think you can fight that avalanche?”
–Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft
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Posted in Apple, DRM at 11:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Co-authored with G. Forbes
Summary: Apple has failed to save the old (antiquated) newspaper industry, but Murdoch and Jobs to consider other plans
WE HAVE BEEN sceptical of the hypePad since it was first announced in 2010. We argued that die-hard fans of Apple would have shallow interest in the product. This kind of interest frequently dies out after purchase; those who choose accessories over practical value would just get bored with the hypePad.
As expected, the primary function of this DRM-laden gadget is starting to disappoint and hypePad magazine sales are slumping. It turns out that Steve Jobs is “not the saviour of journalism” that some were hoping for him to be, alleges this one report:
It verily could according to this article by WWD.com. Statistics from the Audit Bureau of Circulations reveal that by the end of 2010 – which is just two days away now – magazine sales on the iPad were seriously drooping.
Apple is good at reinventing the wheel and charging more for it, often without the level of quality expected with a higher price. As one article put it, “[e]ditorials began asking if the iPad might be the saviour of an industry in a seemingly terminal decline.” It was “just wishful thinking,” Glyn Moody explained over at Identica.
Perhaps Jobs should reconsider his upcoming liaison with Murdoch. It does not seem to be a very smart PR strategy with all the troubles mentioned above.█
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