[Sussex] BBC coverage of vista

[Steve Dobson]

John

On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 11:21:06PM -0000, John Crowhurst wrote:
> On Mon, February 5, 2007 12:22, Nic James Ferrier wrote:
> > Ok. At first I thought the Beeb's coverage was ok. But now I've seen
> > this:
> >
> >   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6312501.stm
> >
> > which seems to be like an extended advert for Vista.
> 
> Just like this one ;)
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6325353.stm

I think Bill Thompson is wide of the mark here.  He has fallen into
the portal trap.  Just because the portal you use to access the net
is a DRM monster that restricts what you can do doesn't mean the
the Internet it is plugged into is.

All the pundits I've read or listened to have said that Microsoft put 
DRM into Vista to provide a secure environment for copyright holders to
offer their content on-line.  I agree with that.

But if you go into Currys or Dixons and ask what is the single largest
contributer to the sale of an item it is price.  Look at your own purchases,
how many were made on price or had price as a significant factor?  Most
I would guess.

So now lets think about applying this to your home entertainment system.
If you want to watch and listen to HD-TV are you going to do that on an
expensive computer with half a dozen fans buzzing away keeping the various
bits cool or are you going to buy a cheap (and silent) set-top box and
plug it into your widescreen TV?  Set-top boxes are going to be made
to a prices so Currys and Dixons sell as many as possible.

Steve
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