Microsoft's flawed marketing of high-def digital rights management in Windows Vista
Tags: Microsoft, Intel, Marketing, Displays, HDTV, DRM
Today, we have two points of view about Microsoft's addition of hard-core digital rights management to its next generation operating system, Windows Vista. CNET's News.com takes the position that this is necessary to appease Hollywood. Boing Boing on the other hand takes the position that Microsoft is abandoning its customers and proper copyright usage. Blackfriars poses the question: who is paying for the product and will these digital rights systems satisfy their needs and wants? Given that consumers are paying for the PC and its OS, forcing consumers to give up existing rights to even display high definition content on displays they have paid for feels like a marketing blunder of the first magnitude.
We wrote about this situation in July, but we got a refresh at one of the Intel Developer Forum sessions on presenting high definition content. And when we heard the presentation, it became quite clear that the customer Microsoft was marketing to was Hollywood and not consumers. We will get a preview of whether consumers will accept this state of affairs when we see the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray high definition disk players arrive next year. But a quick look down the comments at CNET shows opinion running about 4 to 1 against upgrading to Vista if it includes this feature. One wonders whether Microsoft has run any focus groups on this feature in the beta version of Vista currently in the field.
Today, we have two points of view about Microsoft's addition of hard-core digital rights management to its next generation operating system, Windows Vista. CNET's News.com takes the position that this is necessary to appease Hollywood. Boing Boing on the other hand takes the position that Microsoft is abandoning its customers and proper copyright usage. Blackfriars poses the question: who is paying for the product and will these digital rights systems satisfy their needs and wants? Given that consumers are paying for the PC and its OS, forcing consumers to give up existing rights to even display high definition content on displays they have paid for feels like a marketing blunder of the first magnitude.
We wrote about this situation in July, but we got a refresh at one of the Intel Developer Forum sessions on presenting high definition content. And when we heard the presentation, it became quite clear that the customer Microsoft was marketing to was Hollywood and not consumers. We will get a preview of whether consumers will accept this state of affairs when we see the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray high definition disk players arrive next year. But a quick look down the comments at CNET shows opinion running about 4 to 1 against upgrading to Vista if it includes this feature. One wonders whether Microsoft has run any focus groups on this feature in the beta version of Vista currently in the field.
posted by Carl Howe at
5:04 PM
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