"Apple Inc. has pulled its security engineering team out of a planned public discussion on the company's security practices, which had been set for next week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas."
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Member since:2005-06-29
Well, I don't buy music from iTunes, just rip my own CDs to MP3 format. Said MP3 format is DRM-free. Try that in WMP without the DRM, it doesn't happen. I don't have a BD player in my eMac, and I wouldn't put one in if it were supported. A 17-inch CRT is not sufficient to watch said content. As for DVDs, at least Apple actually includes DVD playback without a separate software purchase. And DRM has nothing to do with running OS X on generic x86 hardware; it's called EFI firmware and it's less than trivial to bypass it.
Speaking of OSx86, they won't sue me, the consumer; they'll sue the people selling hardware with OS X preinstalled. Nice try though.
I'll put up with clicking "activate now" in Windows, waiting 30 seconds and then getting on with my life. Activation is not such a big deal, especially if you actually have EXPERIENCE with the process.
Oh believe me, I've got experience with it, starting with Windows XP deauthenticating every time I upgraded my video card or added a second hard drive. After about the tenth phone call to Redmond in two years' time just so I could f--king log in to my computer, I said no thanks. I won't be assumed to be a thief just because I want to upgrade my computer. If I wanted to be guilty until proven innocent I'd move to China.
Sorry to ruin your little fantasy, but I'm not a zealot or fanboy of any OS or software/hardware company. I use what works for me. Windows has never really worked well or efficiently so I stopped using it long ago. Linux worked fairly well in the past and still does. OS X works very well but various little things annoy me making me want to switch back to Linux for most needs. When Haiku is mature it will probably meet all my computing needs.
Now please, take your own Microsoft-worship to someone who actually cares to hear it.
Member since:2006-12-12
*slides over to wife's Vista laptop that is fairly stock*
WMP play can rip as WMA with various codec options, MP3, and wave. The later two big totally DRM free.
I find it interesting that you pick to side-step the DRM issue by avoiding it's path, but yet you claim in Vista you can't do the same thing.
My main machine is a non-Mac that has a EFI firmware based system with the option to load various EFI images that emulate legacy BIOS environments for Windows and some other old operating systems[read OS/2]. But I use the EFI boot environment to bootstrap without them, and just use elilo to actually boot my system.
All that said, I can not run MacOSX on this system without hacking it, because they do specific checks to see if the system is an Apple branded machine. If I wanted to hack my EFI firmware image and other things to make it appear Apple branded, then yes it would boot. While not a public/private key form of DRM, it is restriction imposed to prevent usage. Thus in most technical people's eyes, it is a crude form of DRM.
I keep hoping as well. Maybe one day an OS will capture my attention the way BeOS did back in the day.
Regarding activation. Blah, I hate it in every OS that requires it.
Member since:2005-07-06
Right-click, "Tools" > "Options," "Rip Music" tab, un-check "Copy protect music."
That only applies if you use WMA as the encoding format; the "Copy protect..." option isn't available if you select MP3 as the format.
Member since:2005-07-06
Changing your video card wouldn't force you to reactivate.
Xp probes 10 pieces of hardware, if 7 out of 10 are the same as when activated it passes.
This is the wrong place to spread FUD people are generally kinda clued up around here 
it would be wise to bare that in mind in future.
Member since:2006-12-16
Re: acdtivation, I bet you were using an OEM copy of Windows. Read the licensing agreement - you get 4 (that's FOUR) changes of major hardware. A graphics card is considered a major change, as is the CPU, RAM. So, after 4 times, you technically need to get either another OEM copy or a retail copy. And yes, it technically means you are a thief, since you are in breach of the terms and conditions of the license.
Vista has a built in DVD player (part of WMP now). Granted, it was an oversight on Microsoft's part that earlier versions of Windows didn't have this capability, but then the EEC would have probably sued them for including a DVD player...Microsoft is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't...of course, no one has a go at Apple for these very same issues...
Blue ray is an issue on ANY platform.
I've also got a sneaking suspicion that iTunes rips the files to MP3 with the AICC encryption. It doesn't make life nice nor easy.
My experiences with Linux (reasonably vast) are not encouraging. It is awkward to configure, awkward to administrate. I'm talking from your average end user here, not someone who is reasonably computer literate. They are not the average person. I used Linux as my sole operating system for nearly five and a bit of years (2001 to the beginning of 2006) and have now moved back to Windows and would not move back to Linux. Sorry, been there, done that, flogged that dead horse!
Dave
Member since:2007-05-12
Care to elaborate on that? Because in my experience, aside from the copies of the OS that come with computers (laptops actually, I haven't tried with the desktop installation disks, but I assume the case is the same) for which there is a check for the "model string" in the firmware, Apple doesn't even ask you for a license key upon installing OS X, let alone checking whether you're installing and/or running the OS on "genuine" hardware, let alone implementing DRM.
As for the rest of the DRM, Apple are implementing as much as it is necessary. To my knowledge, the DRM stops at the Quicktime importers level, and there most certainly is no DRM module in the kernel of the OS (unlike an operating system, you seem to be so fond of).
Oh, and before you dismiss me as being a zealot (which I probably am), I'll just say that there is plenty to bitch about Apple, like the lack of transparency in their security policies and procedures - you know, the stuff the article is talking about. You don't have to make up shit to diss Apple.
Member since:2005-11-13
I don't even think OSX can play Blu-ray movies yet. With Vista, you don't have to play them if you don't want to, but at least you have the option, and you can even crack the DRM using AnyDVD HD.
I'm sure it will be supported in OSX eventually (if it isn't already), at which time OSX will support the same HDCP DRM that Windows does. I don't know if Linux will ever support it, which I'm sure will make building a Linux HTPC with a Blu-ray player kind of a pain in the ass
Edited 2008-08-03 21:26 UTC
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Member since:
2005-08-11
Oh My God, please, put the cool-aid down and walk away from the computer. OS X is just as riddled with DRM as Windows, how else could you play BR disks? New DVDs? itunes music? Apple even uses a form of DRM to try to keep you from running OS X on non Apple hardware.
Apple can avoid activation by tying the OS to specific hardware, so they don't really need it, but they will sue to keep you from running OS X on generic hardware. I'll put up with clicking "activate now" in Windows, waiting 30 seconds and then getting on with my life. Activation is not such a big deal, especially if you actually have EXPERIENCE with the process.