Our world ending? - ESR 2008 deadline, interesting read (if havn't)

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: tleslie <tleslie-RBVUpeUoHUc at public.gmane.org>

| http://catb.org/~esr/writings/world-domination/world-domination-201.html


| Gotta give ESR a A+ for research and trend analysis in the article
| however.

Thanks for posting this.  Although I'd known about ESR's article for
some time, I had dismissed it based on people's reaction to it.  This
time I read it.

I actually think he's too right.  Without legal, pre-installed CODECs,
most folks won't accept Linux as the standard default pre-installed OS
on their computers.  (That doesn't mean "most TLUG folks".)

I actually think that the situation is worse than ESR portrayed.  I
think that the DRM stuff that is part of Vista, in particular, the
"Trusted Computing" stuff will be impossible for any Linux distro to
manage, even if they were willing to pay royalties.  More concretely,
I don't see how a Linux desktop will be able to play HD-DVD or Blu-Ray
content from Holywood legally.

The one good thing: the DRM arround HD content is so restrictive that
perhaps there isn't anything interesting that a desktop computer can
do that a stand-alone HD player cannot do.  No time-shifting or other
copying as far as I can tell.
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