Two more responses on this: On May 14, 1:12 pm, Dick Wall <[email protected]> wrote: > I totally know this - I also have videos on my netbook right now that > use H.264 and they look fabulous. Interestingly I had to rip them from > the DVD copies that I own because the digital copy included in the > package of blu-ray, DVD and digital copy is DRM'd and only works on > windows or mac. If this is the "open" standard that Steve is peddling > to replace flash (which does play nicely on Linux and many other > platforms - not all for sure, but more than Apple's stuff) - I ain't > buying or even downloading for free.
1. Like I asked parenthetically, how would we feel about Flash if they were neglecting Linux like they did for the first half of the 2000s? Let's also note that their support for "many other platforms" only goes so far… Flash doesn't support other F/OSS operating systems like BSD or Haiku (nor do I suppose we really expect them to), they don't support Linux on any CPU architecture other than x86, and their official distro support <http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ systemreqs/#os> is limited to Red Hat Enterprise 5, openSUSE 11, and Ubuntu 7 and up. 2. The DRM is something that content providers demand from a distribution channel, and all the various platform-makers that accede to this demand do so only to the degree it suits their platform. Xbox Marketplace movies, Netflix on Wii, iTunes on Apple devices, cable or satellite video-on-demand, physical formats like DVD or Blu-Ray… they all develop their own DRM schemes that only serve to meet the needs of providing Big Content on that platform (or in the case of iTunes, across an ecosystem of related devices). It's not Microsoft's job to make a Marketplace movie playable on your iPhone, nor DirecTV's job to let you play a VOD movie on your computer. I deeply dislike DRM because it's an extraordinary hassle to deal with and takes away my ability to hop devices. I'm also leaning towards some of the philosophical arguments against intellectual property (notably, that it is in conflict with the concept of physical property). But I think the movie and TV industry are going to continue to insist on DRM for a long time to come. They're probably right in thinking that if people didn't have to pay, the overwhelming majority wouldn't. I can tell you that in the anime industry, nearly all the Western companies that licensed Japanese content for release in the US or Europe have gone out of business, rendered irrelevant by "fansubs", where viewers record Japanese TV broadcasts or rip DVDs, add English subtitles, and put them on BitTorrent. Problem? Well, for one thing, I prefer my anime dubbed, ie, the audio re-recorded in English by professional voice actors. Now that all the money in the industry is gone, the few remaining companies can't afford to produce dubs, and those actors are all out of work. I don't know what the economic solution is, but I don't think a tip jar or a bunch more ads is gonna cut it. --Chris -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
