A bad trend

[wkulecz]

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,815693,00.asp

Its coming. If people buy into this hardware locking crap, pay-per-use, will be next on the agenda.

--wally.

[jeff b]

Another fine product from the Evil and Dark Lords at Macrovision.

Jeff B

[Jerry Jones]

The software companies that employ this have to realize this lessens the value of their product in the mind of the consumer.

I'll be switching to the Apple platform if this continues.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Elie]

I believe that if one buys a copy of any software, and that person has 10 PC's at home, he shoudl be entitled to install that same package on all 10 machines!!!!!!!!

Screw this "one purchased copy per machine" crap!

[paulw]

Ellie,

Why did you buy Win XP then??

[Elie]

I bought WinXp to be legal!
Because I am a beta tester, it is a must to stay with the current updates, and knowing Microsoft, it will be a pain to try to keep finding ways to get service packs etc.

Also it look slike WinXp OS is going to be it for the next little while.
With the RT.X100 for example, dual CPU support is offered only in Windows Xp because there are issues with Win2K.

All these things make made me go and buy Windows XP. Wish I had 10 PC's

Cheers,
Elie

[funky-d-munky]

All we can really do is vote with our $. Everyone is doing it because Microsoft did it. They have to realize that there is only one Windows so we had no choice. As far as any other type of software I think it is a loosing business model. People just won't stand for it. Well lets hope they don't.

[Flying dutchman]

I find all this DRM stuff despicable. If Microsoft has their way, all future motherboards will be equipped with a DRM chip that decides which software you may run and which not. I don't like the direction that developments are taking; in fact I refuse to buy Windows XP because of the unsympathetic activation scheme and the built-in spyware technology.

Many DRM problems can be elegantly circumvented by using VMWare or VirtualPC. You create a virtual machine, which simply consists of a large file. This file can be copied to and fro between PC's and is a complete environment by itself. The "hardware" is completely emulated in software. I myself use a virtual machine as a "sandbox" for internet access and for testing software. Virtual machines are easy to backup and transport.

[wkulecz]

I hope I live long enough for things like DVD burning and video editing to run on a virtual machine.

--wally.

[funky-d-munky]

XP will be my last MS OS. Linux will be everything I need soon.
I don't think it will be long befor software will be authenticated EVERY time you use it, not just when you install it. Truely locking us into the Net.

[Technoid]

The palladin concept tha MS is thinking of is downright scary.....

[davpen]

For more madness have a look at what Lexmark is trying to do with their toner cartridges.

http://arstechnica.com/archive/news/1042129564.html

We can only hope that consumers boycott such products.


Cheers,

David.