How can we all kick Microsoft's ass?

Minotaurs. What the hell?

Is there some way that we can all collectively kick MS's asses for being so goddamn bastardly?

I take it this would make my £500 CRT not play, my old 17" not play, and my spanking new 32" LCD not play.

Idiots.

Name supplied

... which will make Linux vendors happy

I can see a lot of corporates thinking "Linux does not expect me to replace the whole shooting match", and there will probably be a mass migration around the time Windows XP is no longer supported. They have time to plan for such a migration, now. It's not hard to see why, either: In today's cost-sensitive times, the mere cost of an OS is causing some pause for thought. Imagine the cost of replacing completely functional PCs and monitors, for what is simply the next supported OS! I can't see a lot of business cases emerging for Vista, to be honest. Business customers aren't as stupid as they used to be. Some have wised up considerably.

Rather than the hardware manufacturers rubbing their hands in glee, it is probably the Linux vendors who will benefit. All we need to see now is optional support for HDCP in Linux, and Microsoft will have a severe headache on its hands. We may also see a "new" hardware market: Non-DRM PC manufacturers. We already have Linux-certified laptops, so it's not an idea that's totally unreasonable.

Oliver

....don't be afraid of Microsoft Minotaurs

Er. No, it won't.

The PC World article doesn't really add anything to what you've already said here, ..or what Ars Technica said in detail here.

It certainly doesn't say anything about a "monitor revoked" message - although it does say that non-HDCP-compatible monitors will be treated like monitors whose IDs *have* been revoked (in that they can't be used for HD content).

The basic situation is that a monitor which should physically be able to display high definition content (whether from BD, HD-DVD, or a Sky box) will only do so if, in addition to having enough resolution, it also supports HDCP. This affects only high definition media - existing displays will work normally with the OS itself, DVD playback, etc.

It's up to the content how to handle a system which doesn't conform to the content protection system - it can either offer a low (e.g. DVD-quality) resolution version of the content, or nothing at all. Hence the "fuzzy image" or "BSOD" reports. Vista will continue to function happily; it's only (high def) video playback which won't work.

Think of it in terms of an HDCP-capable system having an integrated high definition video decoder which is missing from current systems, and it doesn't sound so unreasonable; just like MPEG decoder cards in the old days. In fact, since the high def content is (mostly?) H.264-based, and that *does* need a hardware decoder - on the graphics card - at the moment, this isn't such a far-fetched analogy. Don't forget you'll need HDCP-capable graphics cards, too (which means the new ATi cards, I believe), but then you probably need to upgrade to get H.264 working anyway.

The only problem is with expensive monitors which people could have expected to be able to display high def content on the basis that they've got the resolution - and the fact that the need for the (HDCP part of the) "decoder" in the first place is artificial. You can't miss what you ain't got, but you can bitch about it if someone's gone out of their way to withhold it from you.

Don't get me wrong. I'm as cross as everyone else that neither of the monitors on my home machine which are capable of (more than) 1080p resolution can be used for HD playback. Especially since I have other complaints about getting hold of anything else capable of showing an HDTV signal properly (i.e. at native resolution) to use instead - see rant in a previous letters page. I don't think it's on to be treated as a potential criminal, and to have my chance of being an early-adopter scuppered, and I feel the industry should think carefully about how much content protection will cost them in comparison with piracy, and how much the difficulty and cost of getting content-protected hardware will push people towards pirated content anyway. It's not like HDCP is particularly secure anyway, after all.

But to put things in perspective, you don't need a new monitor to use Vista; you only need a new monitor to use Vista as an HDTV player (on it). For once, it's not Microsoft's fault - if you plug a DVI monitor into a living room BD/HDDVD player, when they become available, it won't work either - and for exactly the same reason.

Monitors aren't TVs, but the Powers That Be have decided that they're not allowed to try to be. One can only hope this distinction means that DVI monitor imports will stop being classified in the higher duty TV bracket, so it *might* mean cheaper monitors all round. But I doubt it.

Andrew Garrard

Hack finds excuse to snap booth babes

It's interesting that after a period of righteous indignation a few months ago about the absurd overuse of half-dressed women to sell games, the Inquirer is back to business as usual with "Hack finds excuse to snap booth babes".

Like the rest of the industry, you need to 'sh*t or get off the pot': either stop trying to take the moral high ground about the objectification of women in the computer business, or stop participating in it.

Regards,
Dr. Geoff Langdale

AMD goes green despite endangering salamanders' health

I wonder, when AMD's PR counters with: "shorter vehicle journies will result in fewer carbon emissions fouling the planet", Are they only considering the business execs, since a majority of their trips will be shortened by the move while most of the other people I know working at AMD, the commute will be about the same? Maybe they are assuming everyone will want to move to one of the more overpriced areas of Austin???

Although, I think most people in general are bitter about the "salamander" thing, since they same to be the reason no one can build anywhere in Austin (Austin's sprawl relative to most large texas towns is very minor; most people in Texas are used to unfettered growth of towns and urban sprawl being the norm).

Keep up the good work,
Name supplied

Rusted Computing

Don't you mean only one hardware manufacture is is rubbing their hands with glee SONY.

Who will want a PC if you need to replace your hardware O/S and Office package to get HD-DVD or Blu-Ray just get a PS-3 with the harddisk option . You have your office apps, email, games and films all in one package sub £500 - no virues, no spyware, etc...

No wonder the Movie Studio's are looking at Blu-Ray!

If Sony can make a profit and sell the PS-3 with a hard disk for less that £400 they will kill the PC - we then just need a PS-3N a notebook version for less then £700.

Best regards,
William

Intel man wants to bang Blu-ray, HD heads together

A puny axe is no good.

What Intel needs to do is hire the dwarf Gimli and send him, and his axe, to the discussions. An axe-wielding, bearded beheader is sure to put an end to this nonsense in short time!

Pascal

We should start a website and join Trusted Computing Alliance

Maybe we should start a website and raise money for the sole purpose of joining the club? $50,000 a year, is a tidy sum of money to pay to have direct access. We could sign-up members for a yearly membership fee of $5.00 and the extra money we collect will go for supporting the password protected website where we discuss all that we learn. Of course we will all have to sign virtual NDA's and we will have to elect our own board and everyone that joins will be given a title and position and have to work pro bono. We can be in the information business.

Regards

Paul

Lithp

Although what you say about the history of LISP is technically true, it's really a footnote in the history and significance of LISP; in other words you miss the point.

Firstly in its 40+-year history LISP has never become inactive. The ANSI standard was only ratified in 1994. Only a few years ago during the Internet boom a local Cambridge, Massachusetts gent by the name of Paul Graham sold a little company called Viaweb to Yahoo for many millions of dollars. Yahoo Shopping was born, and by the way it was built with LISP. ITA Software, also near MIT, uses LISP to power some of the most popular airline ticket pricing systems in the world today.

But more importantly, LISP is known within the computer science community as a language far ahead of its time. For example, LISP had automatic garbage collection in 1963, a feature not popularized in a mainstream language until Java, and now considered indispensible in 'modern' languages. A major player in the history of LISP, Guy Steele, was in fact hired during the development of Java, and has said one of the great things about Java is it dragged mainstream programmers half-way to LISP.

Those in the know consider LISP still ahead of its time, and indeed more and more LISPy features seem to creep into new languages (like Python), and even into operating systems (like the .Net CLR and MS's 'Monad'). LISP could be said to be in the future of the computing industry, not the past.

Mninq