Microsoft Vista? No Thanks.

Allison Redhead · Post by **Allison Redhead** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:44 pm

Caught this today on "Boing Boing" pointing to an article talking about Vista's "abusive" license. I moved to OSX just in time it seems:

1. Self-limiting software, or Mandatory Activation. "Your right to use the software after the time specified in the installation process is limited unless it is activated. … You will not be able to continue using the software after that time if you do not activate it." Moreover, "[s]ome changes to your computer components or the software may require you to reactivate the software." In order to use Microsoft Vista, you must consent to communication to Microsoft of information about the software and the device on which you have installed it. If you don't do so in time, your software will begin to degrade in function.

2. Vanishing functionality through invalidation. "The software will from time to time validate the software, update or require download of the validation feature of the software. … [if validation fails] you may not be able to use or continue to use some of the features of the software." Again, your computer must make periodic (period unspecified) contact with the Microsoft mothership if you want to continue to enjoy what you thought you paid for. Microsoft, of course, disclaims any liability for the consequences if their servers fail or mistakenly deny you validation.

3. Removal of media capabilities. "When you download licenses for protected content, you agree that Microsoft may include a revocation list with the licenses." "[C]ontent owners may ask Microsoft to revoke the software's ability to use WMDRM [Windows Media digital rights management] to play or copy protected content." In other words, one movie or music file may take away your ability to play another, if the content owner (not the computer owner) chooses to cut back the Windows Media Player's features. Don't like the reports that Creative is removing radio recording functions from its MP3 players, under music industry pressure? Prepare for that kind of feature flux to be routine in Vista -- you've agreed to it in the license.

Bonus. MPEG-4 Visual Standard

NOTICE ABOUT THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD. This software includes MPEG-4 visual decoding technology. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:
USE OF THIS PRODUCT IN ANY MANNER THAT COMPLIES WITH THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD IS PROHIBITED, EXCEPT FOR USE DIRECTLY RELATED TO (A) DATA OR INFORMATION (i) GENERATED BY AND OBTAINED WITHOUT CHARGE FROM A CONSUMER NOT THEREBY ENGAGED IN A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE, AND (ii) FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY; AND (B) OTHER USES SPECIFICALLY AND SEPARATELY LICENSED BY MPEG LA, L.L.C.

Spiralgroove · Post by **Spiralgroove** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:48 pm

i havent seen one single thing that makes me even think about trying it
xp and osx will suffice for quite some for me

err_eur · Post by **err_eur** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:51 pm

i agree. i won't buy it. just another step towards the bleak totalitarian future that seems to be the inevitable reality of the future.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=im589uTchKs

karmaofdove · Post by **karmaofdove** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:58 pm

Ableton Live 5 choked on my Vista RC1 Build with 2 GB of RAM.

I will stick with xp for the time being with a possible move to the mac in the future.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:05 pm

You left out the part about vista's licensing not permitting it to run in a virtual machine. So much for parallels!

redok · Post by **redok** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:11 pm

HASTA LA VISTA, MICROSOFT!!!

musick · Post by **musick** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:44 pm

My next PC is a Mac

djadonis206 · Post by **djadonis206** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:49 pm

Ugh, I think Microsoft just got pwned!!!

To bad Bills house is right across the water, and it's really nice...

still

PONED!

Bonescan · Post by **Bonescan** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:59 pm

I think i will move to a Macintosh some time soon as well. I used to play a lot of games on my PC, now i rarely play any games and i use it for web and making music. Vista sounds almost totally pointless i think, i tried out the beta and it seemed like a very small improvement over XP. If these rumors of over zealous DRM and other shit are true i will never upgrade to it.

The only thing that puts me off buying a mac is the lack of flexible hardware upgrades, although i might be wrong about that. I am totally ignorant of Macs though having never used them.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:03 pm

Bonescan wrote: The only thing that puts me off buying a mac is the lack of flexible hardware upgrades, although i might be wrong about that. I am totally ignorant of Macs though having never used them.

You can use most standard PC hardware with macs. And most of the time, you don't need a driver, either.

Of course, you should research your purchases before making them, but in terms of RAM, CPU, hard disk, and other common components, you can just use the regular PC stuff...

rbmonosylabik · Post by **rbmonosylabik** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:32 pm

sqook wrote:
Bonescan wrote: The only thing that puts me off buying a mac is the lack of flexible hardware upgrades, although i might be wrong about that. I am totally ignorant of Macs though having never used them.
You can use most standard PC hardware with macs. And most of the time, you don't need a driver, either. Of course, you should research your purchases before making them, but in terms of RAM, CPU, hard disk, and other common components, you can just use the regular PC stuff...

Right. It's been very long since the last time I found some PC only hardware or software for which I can't find a Mac compatible alternative in 15 minutes at most.

muscleandhate · Post by **muscleandhate** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:54 pm

OSX changes the way you think about a computer.

Ron_F · Post by **Ron_F** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:02 pm

Bonescan wrote:I think i will move to a Macintosh some time soon as well. I used to play a lot of games on my PC, now i rarely play any games and i use it for web and making music. Vista sounds almost totally pointless i think, i tried out the beta and it seemed like a very small improvement over XP. If these rumors of over zealous DRM and other shit are true i will never upgrade to it.

The only thing that puts me off buying a mac is the lack of flexible hardware upgrades, although i might be wrong about that. I am totally ignorant of Macs though having never used them.

I must admit, I still do play games on my PC. However I read recently (on Experts Exchange IIRC) that Vista will run games 10%-15% slower than XP!

veggieryan · Post by **veggieryan** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:09 pm

Sorry to crash the bashin party,.... but....

I have been using vista for months and LOVE it.
It smokes xp and osx. super solid and all my software works great.
I get 16% on the live 5 perfomance test with live 6.01 on my 1.66ghz core duo toshiba tablet. That is better than 2.16ghz macbook pros on osx... wha wha what? yes its true.

you dont have to worry about the activation as long as you havent pirated it... so whats the big deal?
vista is a huge step forward with a much faster kernel than xp or osx...

and, guess what... the glass is nice to look at.. yup, i like it better than osx... its really slick my friends..

sorry to say but osx was much slower and crashed more! not to mention the myriad of hardware problems i had with my macbook pro... sold it!

peace yall.. there are two sides to every story...
ryan.

moogers street · Post by **moogers street** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:12 pm

Its been so bloody long since XP was released that everyone forgot that everyone said the same shit prior to xp, it went along the lines of " nah I wont upgrade to that resource hog etc etc" , take two,

or "Glad I got my Mac",

Familar wedding bells ???

The crux of the matter is based on what 'You' as a musician can do with the hardware/software you use, "You use windaws, you use mac" ...well if you can't make music on either or perform on either, then I know "You are doing something wrong"

Right now I have a Live set playing on a P3 1ghz laptop with 256g of ram running xp and live 6, and I'm making music, infact the music I'm running will become quite significant in due course 'Only" in the way I deliver it in my city, now I must ask is this system dependant? sadly it isnt.

If people were to complain then complain about live not being poreted to a Linux distro.