Posted on 09/30/2007 6:37:34 AM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
Jesper Johansson--a former senior program manager for security policy at Microsoft who moved to Amazon in September last year--wrote in his blog on Monday that he may drop Windows Media Center for LinuxMCE, a free open-source add-on to the Kubuntu desktop operating system, because problems caused by Microsoft's digital-rights management (DRM) software have proven so difficult to fix.
After Johansson's 5-year-old child complained that cable network Comcast's On Demand video system was not working with Windows Media Center, Johansson wrote, he attempted to resolve the problem.
"Upon inspecting the problem I found that the video would turn on, the screen would flicker for a second each of black and the video a few times, and then the Blue Screen of DRM came up. It also wouldn't play any premium channels," he wrote.
Johansson said the recommended work-around involved several convoluted steps, including installing Windows Media Player 10, which crashed, and then being advised to troubleshoot the problem with Windows SharePoint Services. A subsequent Microsoft DRM update then caused the Internet Explorer browser to crash.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com ...
All the arguments surrounding user interfaces, and ease of use, drivers, and etc are pretty much a non issue now, but it's a good fearmonger tact for those who don't want others to even attempt to give linux a try.
I don't subscribe to Stallman's views of freedom, however DRM does put software usage into a free/non free light.
You can't always do what you want if you're using bossy software.
I went cold-turkey for Linux just this past week.
I travel on business and wanted something I could run securely on my business laptop, which for corporate reasons must be a Windows machine. (My top recommendation for new purchases is a Mac, and we have several in the family. They’re trouble-free, well-priced and lovely. But they wouldn’t be an option for me due to company standards.)
So I set up KUbuntu Linux in a VMware virtual machine. Super slick! I can carry it with me on my thumb drive and use it when desired. This approach does require that the free VMWare Player be installed on the machine, but that’s a couple minutes’ work.
The software that is available (free) for Linux is almost stunningly good today. I played with Linux seven years ago and at the time it was terminally geeky to use. No more! It’s pretty close to Windows in ease of use and administration. And rock-solid stable, and more secure than Windows will ever be.
Recommended!
OSS Ping
Poorly written. For reference, the only thing Microsoft's system knew about this error was when it showed up in SharePoint Services (completely unrelated to the issue). It's not saying to troubleshoot the problem using WSS.
I generally don't like DRM, but if you're going to do it at least try to remember there's a customer at the other end who's going to be using it. You almost can't tell there's DRM in iTunes with normal usage, just remember to back up your library.
You really should take a look at PCLinuxOS 2007. Very slick interface, and a little more tweakable for the enthusiast, and just as easy to use for the beginner over any of the Ubuntu distros. I have pretty much abandoned my two previous favorite distros, which was Knoppix and Sabayon for the perfect blend of ease of installation/maintenance and tweakability that I have found PCLOS to be.
As for the various DRM schemes floating around, Linux works pretty well for circumventing the maddening realization that you just paid for a song, and are now locked out of using it on all but just a few of your devices.
And in the realm of DRM, those that hate MS (and others)for their ridiculously overbearing schemes, should really, really hate the crew from Cupertino. iTunes is downright draconian in its DRM “solutions”.
Yes Tux has made great strides in the past seven years, and with some corporate players, like IBM, Novell and others , it will only get better.
Now if you're feeling really bold, you could partition your HD and dual boot. :-)
I’ll take a look at PCLinux2007. Sounds great. Is there any available utility for transferring one’s software, files and settings to a new Linux setup from an old one? I’d hate to have to reconfigure everything again...
There’s a program built in to almost all distros that is equivalent to the Files & Settings Transfer Wizard in Windows, but nothing I am aware of that will port your apps over. Things like emails, contacts, bookmarks, favorites, etc however will move over with ease.
Glad to see that you decided to look for yourself instead of believing the nay sayers.
Okay, I tried PILinux2007 in another virtual machine and am very impressed! Setting up my network printer was completely automatic and considerably easier then Ubuntu. It’s nicely configured and I’m finding little that needs tweaking.
I wasn’t able to find a migration utility like the one you said comes in every distro, but there’s a nice add-on to Thunderbird that exports your emails and keeps your folder structure intact. I used that to pull my emails over to the PCLinux2007. Setting up the actual accounts was a manual chore but took no more than 5 minutes.
After a day of playing with it, I’m finding things are more stable than in my Ubuntu installation. Thunderbird has yet to crash, though it would do so a few times a day in Ubuntu. Now, I’d changed Ubuntu to Kubuntu by downloading various KDE thingies, and maybe that contributed to the occasional whoops there. But the fact is, I was trying to make Ubuntu look and feel like PCLinux2007 looks and feels in its standard configuration. Fonts, decoration, window behavior... you name it, it’s nicely set up and intuitive to use, and rather pretty. So now I’ve switched.
Thanks for the recommendation!
(I love FR!)
And furthermore: My sons both have rather old but still solid Win98 and WinME (yecch) Sony laptops that they’re no longer using, having gone to Macs a couple years ago (and wonderful machines those are). They wanted to try Linux, but I could not get Ubuntu to install on those machines. From my research today, I learned that Ubuntu is hard-core into open-source, and everything in it is open-source, and that’s lovely, but if your video card (for example) is only supported by a proprietary driver, well then you’re just S.O.L. as far as Ubuntu is concerned. PCLinux2007 has no such philosophical aversion to deploying closed-source drivers when needed. Bottom line: the boys’ old laptops now sport fresh, shiny new Linux OSes!
About your sons’ old laptops: Perhaps your sons’ older laptops are incapable of booting from the CD drive. In that case, they would need to make a SmartBootManager boot floppy. Here are some instructions:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SmartBootManagerHowto
1. Smart Boot Manager is on the Ubuntu install CD, in the /install folder, sbm.bin is the filename. Otherwise, you can [WWW] download it. (for more information about this, [WWW] click here.) Here is an alternate link to the [WWW] newest version of Smart Boot Manager.
2. Now we need to make a boot floppy. To do this, use a utility called [WWW] rawwrite. (for more info about this, [WWW] click here.)
3. First format the floppy. In Windows, open a command prompt (Start / Run / “cmd”) and type format a:
4. Then use rawrite command: rawrite -f sbm.bin (rawwritewin.exe sbm.bin)
5. Make sure your computer’s BIOS has been set so the computer boots from the floppy disk - for instructions on how to accomplish this, please refer to your computer’s documentation or manufactures website.
6. Insert the floppy disk and Ubuntu CD, then start or restart the computer. When the Smart Boot Manager’s menu appears, choose the menu option with “CD-ROM” in it, and press Enter. If the CD-ROM option does not appear in your boot menu, press tab to see the Smart Boot Manager options and choose Rescan all boot records. The CD-ROM drive should now appear in your boot menu.
7. Congratulations - your computer will now boot from the Ubuntu CD.
BTW since your sons’ laptops are pretty old (most likely), it might be wiser to install Xubuntu instead of Ubuntu. The above instructions should work for Xubuntu as well.
PCLOS is the bomb. Blows Ubuntu and every variant of it away. KDE is rock solid and sets up out of the box, and if your machine will handle it, Beryl runs as solid on it as any distro I have ever tried...and once again comes pre-configured out of the box. Glad you liked it. Your reaction is about the same as everyone I have recommended it to. They don’t even know why they were messing with Ubuntu after just a few hrs in PCLOS.
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