One of the prevalent arguments for using a PC instead of a Mac has always been that more people use the former. For many, joining the hordes was always seen as a good thing. But there are compelling reasons to go against the grain (fewer virus headaches, for one).
Entertainment companies are increasingly pressuring technology companies to built strict digital rights management technology into computer products. Microsoft has rushed to the forefront of tech companies bending over backwards to appease the entertainment oligarchy, at the expense of the consumer. Dan Gillmor writes in his current column that Apple is refusing to follow the pack:
The era of Digital Rights Management, commonly called DRM, is swiftly moving closer, thanks to the Intels and AMDs and Microsofts. They’re busy selling and creating the tools that give copyright holders the ability to tell users of copyrighted material — customers, scholars, libraries, etc. — precisely how they may use it. DRM, in the most typical use of the expression, is about owners’ rights. It would be more accurate to call DRM, in that context, “Digital Restrictions Management.” But Apple has taken a different tack in its rhetoric and its technology.
I’m a bit pessimistic that Apple will hold out for long, but at least for now, it’s the platform to use if you want to control your world, rather than letting the world control you.
Beware of what that next Windows update will do to your ability to manage your content as you see fit. If you’re thinking of upgrading to a new version of Windows Media Player (or any other media software), carefully read and research exactly what you’ll be getting. Chances are, something will also be taken away.
On a related note: one of the new teachers here was astonished to find that his laptop DVD player limited his ability to watch DVD movies from both Japan and the U.S. He has to make a decision to watch either one or the other — not both. So even if he legally purchases a DVD disc in Japan, and then has brought DVD discs from America, he can’t watch them both. This was one of those silent hand-outs to entertainment companies that screws the customer. And this is similar to the kinds of controls that technology companies are being pressured to add (as “features,” no less) to their products.
Completely agree–there really aren’t compelling reasons to continue using & buying win-tel PCs The new Mac OS is the best ever made by such a huge margin, but even its benefits are outweighed by the negatives surrounding Windows DRM and Windows Media.
I hope that WinMedia / Palladium & their doctrines cause the juggernaut(s) to lose some customers.
But I was dismayed to read recently that Apple is considering ditching its traditional motorola chip architecture entirely and moving towards an intel-based one instead. Hopefully if they did so they would reject Intel’s DRM nastiness, but I have a feeling that these pieces are going to be foisted upon all of us by easily-swayed lawmakers and IP-crazed lawyers.
Mabye pre-DRM computers will soon become contraband. That’ll probably make them worth lots on eBay. I’d better go buy a Mac right now.