I received this which I assume is a press release from the Green Party.
Hope no-one objects too strongly to me posting something to this list
with explicitly political origins. My thought was, shame they don't
mention that there's a real alternative
Owain Clarke
Green Party asks: who has the key to your Vista PC?
29th Jan 2007
* Green party slams Vista Landfill nightmare*
* *
Microsoft's latest operating system, due for release tomorrow, is
defective by design, putting Microsoft and the corporate media in
control of your computer. (1)
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.
"Free software can run on existing hardware, reduces licensing costs for
small businesses and affords important freedoms to consumers. The UK
Government should capitalise on this opportunity to promote the use of
free software in public bodies."
Greens predict that an enormous amount of hardware will be junked by
consumers and companies as Vista will refuse to play Blu-Ray and HD DVD
content with current monitors and sound cards.
Siân Berry, Green Party Female Principal Speaker added:
"There will be thousands of tonnes of dumped monitors, video cards and
whole computers that are perfectly capable of running Vista - except for
the fact they lack the paranoid lock down mechanisms Vista forces you to
use. That's an offensive cost to the environment.
"Future archaeologists will be able to identify a 'Vista Upgrade Layer'
when they go through our landfill sites."
By controlling the technology that delivers video content on computers,
and owning the licenses that make the hardware and software work,
Microsoft will be in a very strong position to dictate terms to
consumers and content producers. Apple's itunes store works in a similar
way already, selling songs that can only be played on Apple ipods and
iTunes software.
"We should remember that this is about Microsoft trying to dictate the
way that video content gets delivered - much as Apple are trying to do
with iTunes - in order to corner the market.
"Now is the time to act, if we want to see the Microsoft monopoly kept
out of the video market."
She added that Green Party also supported complaints by computer
manufacturers that XAML, a Vista-only internet mark-up standard, would
be another attempt to extend Microsoft's virtual monopoly.(2)
"Microsoft are determined not to play fair and we hope the EU stand up
to them. The best way of course is to insist that we purchase products
that work with open rather than closed standards."
