FucksYouUpForSure

Remember a few years ago when Microsoft released a music DRM system called PlaysForSure? The idea was that a load of online music stores would sell music in this format, and lots of different MP3 players would support it, and so if a customer bought “PlaysForSure” music they could be sure it would play on their “PlaysForSure” music player.

(Of course, if you want music that really does play for sure, get it in MP3 format, since that is supported by essentially all music players and computers. PlaysForSure, because it’s a DRM system, is intrinsically about preventing stuff from working, rather than making it inter-operable. So Microsoft’s name for their system is essentially fraudulent.)

Anyway, some people fell for the Microsoft lies and bought PlaysForSure music, although the system was never a big success, and Microsoft didn’t support it for their own Zune music player.

But now, Microsoft are turning off the servers which authenticate PlaysForSure music:

Along with that, Microsoft shut down its failed online music store, and now for the kicker, it’s telling anyone who was suckered into buying that DRM’d content that it’s about to nuke the DRM approval servers that let you transfer the music to new machines. That means you need to authorize any songs you have on whatever machine you want — and that’s the only place they’ll be able to reside forever. And, of course, any upgrade to your operating system (say from XP to Vista) and you lose access to your music as well. By now, hopefully, everyone is aware of why DRM is problematic, but it’s nice of Microsoft to give one final demonstration by basically taking away more rights for the music it sold people with the promise that Microsoft would keep the music available.

The moral of this story? Never, ever buy DRM’ed media or any DRM system — the companies selling it will fuck you up the arse as soon as they think it’s in their interests to do so. Instead, get media in an uncrippled format — either buy it, or if it’s not legally available in a non-DRM format, acquire it via a P2P network such as BitTorrent.

Windows Vista copy protection cracked?

Techdirt is reporting that the copy protection on Windows Vista has been cracked:

More than a year after Windows Vista was introduced, hackers have finally developed a clean crack of Windows Vista. There have been a variety of workarounds for Vista’s copy protection before now, but this is the first time someone has figured out a way to install a cracked version that would pass all of Microsoft’s various anti-piracy checks.

Surely the really effective copy protection mechanism on Vista is that it is so crap no-one would want to copy it?

Stephen Fry on Linux

In his review of the Asus Eee, Stephen Fry makes the claim:

The two great pillars of Open Source are the GNU project and Linux. I shan’t burden you with too much detail, I’ll just make the outrageous claim that your computer will be running some descendant of those two within the next five years and that your life will be better and happier as a result.

He bases this claim on the Asus Eee, and future systems like it, which will replace the bloated Microsoft operating system with something simple that can run on cheap and small hardware devices:

The Asus EEE PC perched on my knee combines GNU software with a Linux kernel powered by an Intel Celeron Mobile Processor to produce a very extraordinary little laptop. It weighs less than a kilogram, starts up from cold in about 12 seconds and shuts down in five. It has no internal hard disk and no CD drive. It offers 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a seven-inch display; wireless, dial-out modem and ethernet adaptors are available for networking and internet connections, three USB ports, mini-jack sockets for headphones and microphone, a VGA out, an SD card slot and a built-in webcam. All for about £200 - less than the price of a show, dinner and taxi for two in London’s West End.

When you press the EEE’s power button, the lightning speed and quietness of boot-up tell you that you are in the hands of a solid state flash drive: no vulnerable moving parts and buzzing platters here. Within seconds a tabbed screen will appear on your display: the tabs are labelled Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings and Favourites. A click on each reveals a page containing bright, clear icons that relate to 40 separate applications and half a dozen or so selected web links. The applications include Skype, Firefox, Thunderbird (the Mozilla mail client) and OpenOffice.org, an Open Source suite of applications that allows you to create and edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents.

Is Fry right? Maybe. Microsoft are more and more being seen as irrelevant.

If Microsoft were honest…

If Microsoft were honest, this is what Windows Vista boxes would look like:

(via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories)

Chinese army hacks British, American and German computers

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been attacking British government computers:

Chinese hackers, some believed to be from the People’s Liberation Army, have been attacking the computer networks of British government departments, the Guardian has learned. The attackers have hit the network at the Foreign Office as well as those in other key departments, according to Whitehall officials.

The Ministry of Defence declined yesterday to say whether it had been hit. An incident last year that shut down part of the House of Commons computer system, initially believed to be by an individual, was discovered to be the work of an organised Chinese hacking group, officials said. Security and defence officials are coy about what they know of specific attacks. However, they say several Whitehall departments have fallen victim to China’s cyberwarriors. One expert described it as a “constant ongoing problem”.

They’ve also been attacking the US DoD:

The disclosures came after reports that the Chinese military had hacked into a Pentagon military computer network in June. The Financial Times said American officials called it the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department.

Defence department officials confirmed that there had been a “detected penetration” of elements of the email system used by the network serving the office of Robert Gates, the US defence secretary. US officials were reported to have said that an investigation had discovered that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was responsible.

The US gave the codename “Titan Rain” to the growing number of Chinese attacks, notably directed at the Pentagon but also hitting other US government departments, over the past few years.

And Germany:

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, is reported to have raised the issue of Chinese attacks on her government’s computers during a visit to Beijing.

This highlights that warfare in cyberspace is becomeing more important. In a future war, if a country can knock out an enemy’s communication systems and power stations in a surprise attack at the start of a war, it would have an enormous advantage.

Britain needs to have all computers connected to the nation’s infrastructure to be secure. There are many things that can be do to make them more secure, but a good first step would be to mandate that Microsoft Windows not be used on any vital computers — for example all those involved in the infrastructure for telecoms, the Internet, power generation, gas and water pumping, sewage works, traffic control, banking, TV and radio broadcasting, transportation of food and essential supplies, railways, etc.

Oh, and the idiots whose idea it was to run Britain’s newest warships on MS Windows should be immediately sacked and their pensions forfeited.

For Microsoft, saying “Linux” is obscenity

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console allows Internet-based gaming where users identify themselves by an online name. Naturally the system disallows people from using obscene words are their screen names. But it also prevents them from using such screen names as “Linux”, “Unix” and variants such as “L I N U X” ans “L inux”.

Details here:

Okay, what happens when you like Linux, and decide to change your Xbox Live gamertag motto to “Linux rules”? Well, Microsoft black flags you, that’s what. According to xbox-scene.com, Linux and Unix prompt the following response:

I can confirm this as I just tried it myself. Also, according to some xbox-scene.com forum-goers, variations on Linux such as “L I N U X” or “L inux” also are banned.

As Jack Loftus reports, “This is just lame. It’s not even worthy of being called “childish” as that would be an insult to even the most insipid of today’s youth.”

(Link from Slashdot)