Re: [announcement] SYSAPI and SYSSVC for Windows

[Georg Bauhaus <sb463ba@l1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de>]

Ekkehard Morgenstern <ekkehard.morgenstern@onlinehome.de> wrote:
: 
: "Georg Bauhaus" <sb463ba@l1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de> wrote:
:> : Not in the least. As I said, XP contains all of 2000 and all of NT.
:> 
:> Hm. So is it not true that they more or less have woven the shell and
:> the graphics subsystem into one thing?
: 
: Huh?? No.

I checked, not the shell but the Executive. From user mode to
kernel mode,
http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dnarwbgen/html/msdn_movuser.asp

: (that's also why the free OS communities should pay attention to what
: Microsoft is doing when they want to stay competetive!)

Yes.  BTW, are 3D GUI objects a Microsoft invention?
Then there is a patent opportunity, so free OS communities will
have to consider 4D GUI components to stay competitive :-)

: New in XP is also the .NET framework, which permits Java-like
: GUI programming, but it's mainly targeted at client/server operation,
: as it seems.

In particular, it also looks like an embraced CORBA.

:> If your general attitude towards consumers contains,
:> "People are stupid and selfish and have a tendency to be criminals, in
:>  particular if they have computers (you know they get all this free stuff
:>  how should they have learned to pay), they sure will make illegal copies,
:>  everyone knows this, no use explaining that producing media content is
:>  work etc",
:> <rant mode=OT>
:> This, IMHO, is what Palladium addresses.
: 
: No, Microsoft said it will not restrict the use of the system.

They sure will help resticting copying. I'm not saying that distributing
copies to circumvent payment is a nice thing to do, but I think "secure"
software expresses the above attitude towards customers: "they are thieves,
this won't change, we must use force." Sounds like defamation to me.

: Everything will be as it was before, except that there will be a new
: subsystem providing unsecure operation, while the core system will
: become secure.

Interesting wording, a little biased towards secure transactions
of money I guess?

: Microsoft knows that people don't want to invest in
: all-new software. You can still use all of your old software, and
: no-one will snoop on your computer about it.

Question is, can I still use my old real player 8 and listen to BBC?
Probably yes. Will I be able to watch an older US film online using
RP8 as "unsecure" software, after signing a pay-per-view contract?

: Microsoft also knows that many people use pirated software on their
: computers. However, that's in the responsibility of those people,
: and Microsoft knows sales would drop dramatically if they would
: disallow the use of such.

Yes and No. Are they disallowing the use of a FAT file system unless
there is a license agreement,
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/tech/fat.asp ?

:> The users might have an option to decide whether they want to run
:> "trusted" applications like media player, real player, and its ilk or not
:> see anything at all -- because there is little to be seen without
:> "trusted" programs. 
: 
: You forget about WinAMP and all the free software on the market.

This excludes the server side from view.
What software is used to produce the streams?
What software is used to produce the media content suitable for
non-MS/non-Real players?
Does it offer "secure" operation, that is D"R"M compatibility?


: Even if Micrsoft would provide only a secure Media Player (perhaps as
: required by the movie and music industry, don't forget that Microsoft
: has to cooperate with those), you could still use independent software.

Aha! You may want to study what Jack Valenti has said about
what the internet is: a distribution channel for media content that
has to be secured from software piractes to "protect America's greatest
trade export".
 
: The TCPA specification has changed a lot in the light of more or less
: recent protests from consumers and the press.

Good "Old Europe". (An interesting variation of a dictum about Europe
by US DoD officials not long ago.)

: And hence, Microsoft
: will not make the system a closed operation. In that case, no-one
: would buy Windows, and that is definitely not in their market interest.

But how many young people will continue to listen to music on CDs
when they have to buy each and every of them? How will this affect
Music Industry? To be continued...

: There are a lot of unemployed people, and software piracy is simply
: endangering jobs everywhere.

...Interesting. I doubt that Microsoft would have grown that large
were it not for the widespread illegal copies of DOS and Word
(and that spread sheet software the name of which I cannot currently
remember).

Without software piracy, and by analogy, music piracy, will those who
are thieves now become buyers then? Where will their money come from?


:> I'm glad there are some compiler vendors who seem to trust their
:> customers and don't use all sorts of electric circuits but a plain
:> contract, and payment.  Why? Might they have reason to assume that
:> customers aren't necessarily thiefs or fences?
: 
: For small companies, developing a compiler is a costly effort, and
: hence needs to be copy protected.
: 
: Small companies will always use dongles. 

I don't think small compiler companies will always use dongles.
Is Comeau Computing a large company?
Don't know about RR Software. Do they use dongles?
I know of FLEXlm for site licensing for another Ada compiler, but not
for single user licensing. I think ISE Eiffel uses license files a well.

And: ACT produces Free Software, GNAT compiler and tools, which
must still be a costly effort because it is an evolving compiler.
They don't use copy protection at all you could guess, other than
the requirement that you may not take the compiler sources,
rework them, sell the product and store the reworked sources away
as private property.  Where is the dongle? Will GNAT need "DRM"
hardware to work in "secure" mode?

: Imagine you take all your money
: and invest into the development of a compiler, and then you go home
: and a friend offers you a pirate copy of it. How would YOU feel?

I wouldn't be surprised. But small companies usually have the time
to talk to their prospective customers before they hand over a
copy of their product.

: Big companies like Microsoft don't need dongles. They know they
: will have enough money to develop and market the product, and
: as long as enough people buy it, all will be ok. 

The media industries seem to differ.

: There are a lot of things people don't think about when they say
: what you said. 
: 
: Like, record companies have a lot of staff that needs to be paid,
: and they need to look good at the stock exchange too, if they're
: there or their investors would drop them.

You are repeating old, old arguments here :-) Look for complaints
about LP recordings of classical music in the 50s and 60s, and about
tape recorders.  Same thing. They have always complained. They
have always compared figures selectively, describing The Situation
Of the Music Industry as one that inevitably favours the desired outcome
of the comparison: the trade is in a bad shape, employees are
suffering, etc etc etc.
In the long run the industry has grown.


: There are already some perfectly
: legal online music shops that sell songs by professional artists
: for a couple of cents each. So it IS possible.

That is not true of your average artist at your avery online store.
As cheap as ever.

: I think it's a matter of personal maturity whether you let 
: other people have their share of profits.

Yes. Exactly. That is why I believe in honest business, not
in threat, force, and costly safeguard.

: We're living in a 
: cooperative society after all,

That's an interesting claim if you allow me to include "business"
in "society".  Is business cooperative, or competitive, or both?
Will a company invite competitors, or will they try to keep them
out of projects? What does that say about "cooperative society"?
And maturity?
Nothing. Too many generalisations for my taste. I would make
non-technical arrangements in order to keep the number of unwelcome
surprises like license violations low.



-- Georg