White and Wild by wilshire|oneGreen Party asks: who has the key to your Vista PC?
“Microsoft’s latest operating system, due for release tomorrow, is defective by design, putting Microsoft and the corporate media in control of your computer.
Beneath the gloss they have hidden traps that take away important consumer rights, force expensive and environmentally damaging hardware upgrades.
All computer hardware, such as monitors and sound cards, will have to obey Microsoft’s rules for encrypting content in order for consumers to use Vista to play ‘premium’ content, such as Blu-Ray and HD DVD disks. Although it is unlikely to prevent copying, it will make Vista more attractive to Hollywood film distributors, while also locking them into a Vista content distribution system.
Derek Wall, Green Party Male Principal Speaker, said: “So-called ‘digital rights management’ technology in Vista gives Microsoft the ability to lock you out of your computer. Technology should increase our opportunities to consume media, create our own and share it with others.
“But Vista helps the corporate media take away our consumer rights. Silence in government betrays a shocking complacency in the face of this latest attack on our rights.”
Vista will also be power hungry, as it requires more processing time to encrypt and decrypt ‘premium’ content, and looks around the computer every few milliseconds to check that nothing is trying to distribute de-coded ‘premium’ video or sound.
He continued, “Vista requires more expensive and energy-hungry hardware, passing the cost on to consumers and the environment. This will also further exclude the poor from the latest technology, and impose burdensome costs on small and medium businesses who will be forced to enter another expensive upgrade cycle.”
Consumers, businesses and government bodies should protect their interests by migrating to free software, rather than upgrading to Vista, says Wall.”
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