Windows Media Player is far from ones only option to play DVDs, I would like to add. VLC or Media Player Classic also do a great job. I personally prefer Media Player Classic and use it on my machine, after installing K-Lite Codec Pack, which yes comes with a fist full of decoders. As far as the OPs post goes, I also am staying well away from Vista... well as much as possible... I do have to boot it up in a VM to test stuff, but that's as close as it gets. I do not like the concept of others deciding what to do with my sh*t. Everything on my machine I would qualify as premium because it's what I want on my machine, who are these companies to decide. Hanging on to straws, that's all they are doing. If I didn't need to use Photoshop on a daily basis I would be sitting in a different OS right now, and only dual booting back to XP when I happen to play a game. And on the multi-core systems, and multi threaded systems, lets be perfectly honest: How many users do you think utilize this anyway? I don't think my Mom and Pop need 4 cores to use "The Internets" or "The Email" or "The Solitare". Vista is a beast of overkill. I know I have very often made great use of multi-cpu systems since back when I had my first one, a Dual 300mHz P2. 3DSMAX and the various renderfarms I've worked at have always benifuited greatly from these, but this really isn't an normal operation. Am I the only one who thinks the glass windows aren't remotely cool as far as a usable interface goes? Having a glass title and blury stuff behind it does not make it easy to identify the window title. I dunno, dropshadows and unified menu bar in OS X is one thing, but blurry-glass title bars is just not practical, although pretty.
QFT
The parts I highlighted are key points to the argument of why Vista is a mess to be avoided. They market it as "the gamers OS", yet they try to market it as "the casual users best choice" as well, and succeed only half-assed on both fronts.
Me, I like the glass look, but I have CrystalXP to modify XP to have the same graphical features as Vista, as well as a sidebar and an object dock. Amazingly, the shell made to give the same effects to XP uses minimal amounts of memory., whereas Vista requires large amounts just to be able to run Aero.
If MS had made three versions, "Ultimate" for the gamer (focused on gaming, graphics, and network) "lite" for the casual (focused on internet browsing, photos, media ) and "regular" (a combination like they have now) for the OS enthusiast, they might have gotten alot further along in sales, as well as less problems with hardware and user preferences.
I think the point the OP was making is Vista, and Microsoft in making it, have decided that Vista should be doing more than manage your system for you, they are getting into the policing business essentially. It's telling you what you can and can't play, but not objectivly (it is just a machine after all).
Yes, that was my point of the post. Vista has been made to take away 90% of a users choices, in favor of what MS and Industry has decided you should have control of. If they wanna give me Vista for free and let me park my ass in their lounge in Redmond, I'll operate my system under their rules.
For instance, I realize that there are many amongst the huddled masses who barely know more about operating a computer than hitting "power" to turn it on. However, I'm quite capable and proficient at handling my own computer/network security. I don't need or want an OS telling me "You can't do that", especially when most of the time it's wrong.
But I refuse to be told how and when I can use my OS or my media that I paid for. So, by not buying it, I don't need to worry.
I'm a Vista user, and I would have to say its been a pain in the bum from day one. Many of my old games refuse to play in it, i get error or prompts every two seconds, programmes within it crash (although the OS is eerily stable) etc etc.
The main problem I have had so far with all this copy protection rubbish is that CDs I OWN, and have ripped to play on my computer now say i don't have the correct license or whatever it is. So i will have to re-rip these CDs.
I feel very strongly that I have a right to break the law if i want to (even though i don't really) and take my chances with my own law enforcement it is NOT Microsofts perogative to decide this for me.
... i'm really hacked off at the moment about all this actually. But its a monopoly position, so what can you do eh?
I don't know what to say about this. The article doesn't seem to provide much information on what restrictions there are other then with the HD issue. I doubt many people even own a HD player at the moment. They are very expensive and so are the monitors/TVs that can ouput them properly. This issue doesn't really effect me at all.
So far I haven't run into any issues with crashing or being denied the use of something. It does have a lot of security and will prompt you to weather or not you are sure you want to install this or run that, but thats to protect from viruses and things of that nature.
I also like the new interface just like I liked the XP interface better then the 2000 one. Yes you can get a skin for XP via software or do it yourself if you know what your doing, but it's not quite the same. I notice they increased the font/icon size which is easier on the eyes. They also added preview windows for your minimized programs. Overall it's been a pretty smooth experience so far. Maybe I'm just lucky.
To Flyte, oh its certainly prettier and should in effect be a good upgrade, but it annoys me how Microsoft seem to think its their job to police what i do! I don't copy stuff on the whole, so why should i be treated like a criminal? Why should need licenses for my own CDs? Or in this case my own Hi -Def movies?
Its up to my own consience and local law enforecement, not Microsoft!
I feel very strongly that I have a right to break the law if i want to (even though i don't really) and take my chances with my own law enforcement it is NOT Microsofts perogative to decide this for me.
I don't think anything needs to be said after that. Most succinct expression of the problem yet.
And to Flyte27, the point isn't if it works smooth or not for you, but is the fact that once you lose control of things like this (freedoms and rights) it usually gets worse and is 1000 times harder to get back that it was just to hold on to.
... the point isn't if it works smooth or not for you, but is the fact that once you lose control of things like this (freedoms and rights) it usually gets worse and is 1000 times harder to get back that it was just to hold on to.
I really could not agree more. Once these laws are passed, getting them revoked is a real struggle. The next stage is something I don't even want to think about. What about having each CPU serial assigned to your music and movie files? Perhaps we could link this in with ID cards or social security numbers? Store the info on a central database which cross references with your bank account to esnure you bought the movie? When IProperty stretches to things like an 80 year old 'happy birthday' tune, we need to be careful about how far we take the whole concept.
Crazy talk perhaps, but i'm trying to make a point here.
Why not make OS more free more upgradable and improvable...
Just think maybe people will be using their pcs on big screen lcds and dlps etc... (if this si right you can't even output to them correctly).
I mean why not give us more instead of less.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
The title is extremely misleading. Vista doesn't not "stop" you from playing HD content. There's just a draconian prerequisite required by content producers for HD content to be played in it's full quality, and that is requiring all components along the signal path to be HDCP compliant. So your gfx and monitor needs to support HDCP. The same applies with consumer electronics such as home theater setups. Although I'm AGAINST DRM and any form of "content protection", all MS is doing is simply providing the means for you to play HD content. If they didn't, they'll be another group of people blaming them.
Read the article again. Recording your home movies in HD format and being unable to play them without the OS downgrading them, has nothing to do with "draconian prerequisires by content producers".
I don't see why that would happen. Lets for arguments sake assume WMV-HD is used as the codec, which would probably be the default, theres absolute no specifications that require you to implement content protection, it is completely optional. There's quite a few freely distributed HD content available on the net (one being mariposaHD, wiki it up) with no protection whatsoever, which you can download and try for yourself.
Comments
The parts I highlighted are key points to the argument of why Vista is a mess to be avoided. They market it as "the gamers OS", yet they try to market it as "the casual users best choice" as well, and succeed only half-assed on both fronts.
Me, I like the glass look, but I have CrystalXP to modify XP to have the same graphical features as Vista, as well as a sidebar and an object dock. Amazingly, the shell made to give the same effects to XP uses minimal amounts of memory., whereas Vista requires large amounts just to be able to run Aero.
If MS had made three versions, "Ultimate" for the gamer (focused on gaming, graphics, and network) "lite" for the casual (focused on internet browsing, photos, media ) and "regular" (a combination like they have now) for the OS enthusiast, they might have gotten alot further along in sales, as well as less problems with hardware and user preferences.
Yes, that was my point of the post. Vista has been made to take away 90% of a users choices, in favor of what MS and Industry has decided you should have control of. If they wanna give me Vista for free and let me park my ass in their lounge in Redmond, I'll operate my system under their rules.
For instance, I realize that there are many amongst the huddled masses who barely know more about operating a computer than hitting "power" to turn it on. However, I'm quite capable and proficient at handling my own computer/network security. I don't need or want an OS telling me "You can't do that", especially when most of the time it's wrong.
But I refuse to be told how and when I can use my OS or my media that I paid for. So, by not buying it, I don't need to worry.
I'm a Vista user, and I would have to say its been a pain in the bum from day one. Many of my old games refuse to play in it, i get error or prompts every two seconds, programmes within it crash (although the OS is eerily stable) etc etc.
The main problem I have had so far with all this copy protection rubbish is that CDs I OWN, and have ripped to play on my computer now say i don't have the correct license or whatever it is. So i will have to re-rip these CDs.
I feel very strongly that I have a right to break the law if i want to (even though i don't really) and take my chances with my own law enforcement it is NOT Microsofts perogative to decide this for me.
... i'm really hacked off at the moment about all this actually. But its a monopoly position, so what can you do eh?
I don't know what to say about this. The article doesn't seem to provide much information on what restrictions there are other then with the HD issue. I doubt many people even own a HD player at the moment. They are very expensive and so are the monitors/TVs that can ouput them properly. This issue doesn't really effect me at all.
So far I haven't run into any issues with crashing or being denied the use of something. It does have a lot of security and will prompt you to weather or not you are sure you want to install this or run that, but thats to protect from viruses and things of that nature.
I also like the new interface just like I liked the XP interface better then the 2000 one. Yes you can get a skin for XP via software or do it yourself if you know what your doing, but it's not quite the same. I notice they increased the font/icon size which is easier on the eyes. They also added preview windows for your minimized programs. Overall it's been a pretty smooth experience so far. Maybe I'm just lucky.
To Flyte, oh its certainly prettier and should in effect be a good upgrade, but it annoys me how Microsoft seem to think its their job to police what i do! I don't copy stuff on the whole, so why should i be treated like a criminal? Why should need licenses for my own CDs? Or in this case my own Hi -Def movies?
Its up to my own consience and local law enforecement, not Microsoft!
I don't think anything needs to be said after that. Most succinct expression of the problem yet.And to Flyte27, the point isn't if it works smooth or not for you, but is the fact that once you lose control of things like this (freedoms and rights) it usually gets worse and is 1000 times harder to get back that it was just to hold on to.
Crazy talk perhaps, but i'm trying to make a point here.
You know i usually support MS ... but this is BS.
Why not make OS more free more upgradable and improvable...
Just think maybe people will be using their pcs on big screen lcds and dlps etc... (if this si right you can't even output to them correctly).
I mean why not give us more instead of less.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
Read the article again. Recording your home movies in HD format and being unable to play them without the OS downgrading them, has nothing to do with "draconian prerequisires by content producers".
I don't see why that would happen. Lets for arguments sake assume WMV-HD is used as the codec, which would probably be the default, theres absolute no specifications that require you to implement content protection, it is completely optional. There's quite a few freely distributed HD content available on the net (one being mariposaHD, wiki it up) with no protection whatsoever, which you can download and try for yourself.
Here are a couple of article that think would be useful to this conversation:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=673
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/aacs-tentacles.ars
Enjoy.