On 22 Dec 2005, at 3:07 am, Russell Chapman wrote:
William T Goodall wrote:
Microsoft attained its dominant position in the personal computer
software business through
1) Luck
2) Illegal business practices
3) The mistakes of its competitors
and since
a) Luck eventually runs out
b) Microsoft is now closely scrutinised to ensure it doesn't
break the law anymore
c) The competition has wised up
Microsoft's position can only decline from now.
Microsoft may yet have another life if it manages to dominate the
living room in the way it has done the office. Sales between
Thanksgiving and Christmas of Media Centre edition PCs in the US
have been staggering.
They may have shown a staggering increase, but since the sales of
Media Centre have been negligible for the last few years that doesn't
amount to much. Perhaps this is the year it finally takes off.
It's not that MS get that much more for the Media Centre version of
Windows (they do, of course) but the stake being claimed in the
living room. Once Xbox360 takes that next step into people's home
lives, it may be that they have got far enough. Sony's devices are
better, Apple's 10foot interface is better, but it's the Microsoft
stuff people will have, so it is Microsoft that the content
providers will have to deal with.
The content providers are clearly signalling that they don't want to
be locked into one DRM environment. And especially not Microsoft's.
Rather than breaking the law, they will just ensure that DRM laws
etc benefit them in the first place...
The most widely used DRM system on Windows PCs now is Apple's Fairplay.
--
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
"A bad thing done for a good cause is still a bad thing. It's why so
few people slap their political opponents. That, and because slapping
looks so silly." - Randy Cohen.
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