[lbo-talk] Vista

[Dwayne Monroe]

Doug posted:

In a review of Vista 

<http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17992/page2/

Erika Jonietz writes:

My efforts to get Media Center working highlighted two
big problems with Vista. <snip> I couldn't even watch
a movie: Windows Media Player could read the contents
of the DVD, but there wasn't enough memory to actually
play it. In short, you need a hell of a computer just
to run this OS.

[...]

.....................



This is a remarkably uninformed review of Vista.  


I say this, not because she misses the product's 'good
points' but because her frustrating experience with
video playback (an experience she would not have had
with even Windows XP - the previous iteration) was not
caused by a lack of processing power for content
presentation per se but by the fact Vista attempts to
enforce Advanced Access Content System (AACS -
wikipedia it for more info) rules.

There's a digital rights management
encryption/decryption algorithm running that consumes
CPU cycles even as the machine is trying to present
'content'.


New Zealand based computer security adept Peter Gutman
analyzes this in depth in his paper "A Cost Analysis
of Windows Vista Content Protection"

Exec Summary:


Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core
OS elements in order to provide content protection for
so-called “premium content”, typically HD data from
Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources. Providing this protection
incurs considerable costs in terms of system
performance, system stability, technical support
overhead, and hardware and software cost. These issues
affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC
industry, since the effects of the protection measures
extend to cover all hardware and software that will
ever come into contact with Vista, even if it's not
used directly with Vista (for example hardware in a
Macintosh computer or on a Linux server). This
document analyses the cost involved in Vista's content
protection, and the collateral damage that this incurs
throughout the computer industry.


[...]


Link -

<http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html>


This paper has caused quite a stir in the industry and
yet, Jonietz puzzles over why she's having such a
difficult time playing a DVD on her (really, not that
underpowered) machine.  There's not one mention of
AACS or DRM (digital rights management - wikipedia it)
technologies in the piece which is absurd since these
issues have been the primary focus of serious reviews
of Vista for many weeks now.



.d.




Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln how'd you enjoy the play?

Harry Shearer
......................
http://monroelab.net/blog/