Aug 30 - Windows Vista unloads on pirates

By EASTLondon - 08-31-2005, 03:27 AM - Boxden > Tech Questions and Answers

By John Borland, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: August 30, 2005, 4:00 AM PT

As Microsoft readies the next version of its Windows operating system, called Vista, the software giant is building in unprecedented levels of safeguards against video piracy.

For the first time, the Windows operating system will wall off some audio and video processes almost completely from users and outside programmers, in hopes of making them harder for hackers to reach. The company is est@blishing digital security checks that could even shut off a computer's connections to some monitors or televisions if antipiracy procedures that stop high-quality video copying aren't in place.

In short, the company is bending over backward--and investing considerable technological resources--to make sure Hollywood studios are happy with the next version of Windows, which is expected to ship on new PCs by late 2006. Microsoft believes it has to make nice with the entertainment industry if the PC is going to form the center of new digital home networks, which could allow such new features as streaming high-definition movies around the home.

PCs won't be the only ones with reinforced pirate-proofing. Other new consumer electronics devices will have to play by a similar set of rules in order to play back the studios' most valuable content, Microsoft executives say. Indeed,[..]uring studios that content will have extremely strong protection is the only way any device will be able to support the studios' planned high-definition content, the software company says.

"The table is already set," said Marcus Matthias, product manager for Microsoft's digital media division. "We can come in and eat at the buffet, or we can stand outside and wash cars."

Hollywood studios didn't get all the protections they wanted in Vista, and record labels have even seen some of their key concerns about copy-protecting CDs left unaddressed. But the Vista operating system as a whole goes much further than any general-purpose computing platform before it toward addressing content companies' piracy fears.

Although ordinary MP3 files and DVDs will play without any difference, the deep changes in the way the operating system handles some entertainment content will come with costs. The most obvious of these may be the risk of compatibility problems between some older monitors or TVs and Vista computers, particularly when trying to play high-quality video. Vista may also make it harder to do some casual copying, such as recording Internet audio.

"This is definitely being driven by Microsoft's desire to position Windows as a home entertainment hub, and to do that they have to make some concessions," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with research firm Directions on Microsoft. "They're walking a line, trying to please both sides (content companies and consumers) at the same time."

These changes are worrisome to some computer programmers and digital activist groups. They fear that increasingly high security levels will block off avenues of programming innovation, or even stop computer owners from accessing portions of their own machines--a little like walling off a room inside a private house.

"There is a concern that there is a tendency to lock down parts of the design to protect the flanks of the copy-protection system," said Princeton University computer science professor Edward Felten, who has been an outspoken critic of rigid copy-protection rules. "That makes it harder for everyone, including Microsoft, to adapt to new uses."

Putting video behind a wall
Several major changes have been made to the way the operating system will handle video and audio, though few of these are included in the early version now in the hands of beta testers. The rest of the components will likely be added in the next, as yet unscheduled, beta release, and will be in the final launch of the operating system next year.

At the most basic level, some audio and video--at least when it is in Microsoft's Windows Media format--will be handled in a new "protected environment" that will keep applications such as media players or plug-ins separate from the actual media data.

Essentially, this means that much of the actual heavy lifting of decoding, unlocking and playing the audio will happen in what some engineers refer to as a separate "sandbox." Media player applications will send remote control commands such as play, fast-forward or stop into this protected space, without directly handling the data as they do today.

Technology called the "Protected Video Path" will then attempt to ensure that a video stream is encrypted--and thus difficult to copy--all the way until it reaches a monitor or other device where it is being displayed.

This won't always be possible, because most analog plugs, and some digital connections, don't support this kind of copy protection. Part of Vista's job will be to check to see what kind of devices are linked to the computer, and through what kind of connection, and decide whether the content can be encrypted or otherwise protected over that link.

Full News article link

08-31-2005, 11:22 AM

yeah this will work... [pic]

08-31-2005, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by doobie04

yeah this will work... [pic]

well, Don't underestimate Microsoft, they finally developed an un??????ble software (latest DRM). With this "Sandbox" system ish is gonna suck if they make it like DRM.

08-31-2005, 12:11 PM

Here they go again, making an OS check for something. Will they ever learn? lol...

09-01-2005, 02:14 AM

My cousin has a copy of this (full copy) that is issued to technicians on the Microsoft list for new software testing and he was saying how he can't install any of his programs because Vista doesnt allow any Non-Microsoft programs to be installed. I was going to get it from him but since he told me that I decided not to.

09-14-2005, 10:11 AM

do they ever learn, some egghead mother!!ing is cooking up a crack for it rightnow..as I type this.

09-14-2005, 06:25 PM

!! it will just re-install xp....i dont give a !!....niccas aint stopping my hustle

09-14-2005, 06:31 PM

hes !!ing himself, linux is going to come and destroy him. or the government with another monopoly suit

09-15-2005, 01:07 AM

ill stick with xp

09-15-2005, 07:19 AM

a 15yr old kid made the dvd decoder so they shud have no problem cracking vista

03:18 PM

Originally Posted by n2deep

ill stick with xp

Exactly what I said when Vista was posted last time.

niccas was talkin about, "Oh people are afraid to upgrade, look at everything else, we upgraded didn't we?" As long as XP suit my needs, I won't be looking foward to Vista.

09-15-2005, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by Stupendamatic

My cousin has a copy of this (full copy) that is issued to technicians on the Microsoft list for new software testing and he was saying how he can't install any of his programs because Vista doesnt allow any Non-Microsoft programs to be installed. I was going to get it from him but since he told me that I decided not to.

better yet, if ur smart, you'll hold off on Vista still the first Security Package is available...M$ is notorious for buggy packages

09-16-2005, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by n2deep

ill stick with xp

yeah me too

09-17-2005, 01:54 PM

this will never work, where theres a will theres a way

09-20-2005, 01:35 AM

xp > ______

09-23-2005, 02:45 AM

Gates is stupid, he should try and promote windows for home users and make them pay for support only. corporates should pay for licences etc.

This way he will still have a favourable amount of people on his side.

Im a Computer Scientest and i believe software/OS's should be free and u should only be able to pay for software packages if u can:

A: afford it,
B: making money of it,
C: want feedback/help from developer.

This way home users can have a the means to check things out legally, without worrying bout lawsuits, etc. Sometimes the end-user does not know what he/she wants, making development improvement difficult. So Gates could be making a !!up,
seeing that an Windows OS on DVD will be overpriced, and you cant copy movies.
and i heard minimum requirements are above most users PC requirements

512 ram P4 2.4 Ghz DVD-rom etc.
Now u nead to upgrade ur PC too.

One more thing
My Cousin is a Attorney/Lawyer, but yesterday she could not even use google to find something she was doing research on, I needed to help, then i realized how scared people were of computers/technology.

If Bill Wants to take over the world, put Windows in every household, Smarthouses, Business', etc. He wont do it in his lifetime
His digging is own grave.

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