Transparency on DRM and Windows Mobile upgrades
I've really appreciated a few recent posts from Microsoft developers on the practical reasons behind some frustrating restrictions on Microsoft products - DRM and the inability to upgrade some Windows Mobile 2003 devices to Windows Mobile 5.
First, Peter Rosser discusses DRM as both a Microsoft employee and a consumer of digital media.
...Microsoft makes a big, inviting target for lawsuits if we even appear to be soft on protecting copy protected content.... There's more to this than most people realize, though. Not only do companies like Microsoft and Apple have to guard against lawsuits, etc., but they have to make the studios and other content producers happy enough with the DRM solutions that they will go *farther* and give us more content in more flexible ways. Do you think that Comcast, DirecTV or EchoStar would agree to attach a digital tuner to a PC that can decode their signal without an ironclad guarantee that the content would not just end up on the net? They are terrified of that prospect... and with (arguably) good reason. DRM is what we need to open up PC-based solutions for all of our content.
I know there are a lot of folks out there who vociferously oppose DRM on principal. The "information should be free" crowd argues on the principal that you cannot own information, and content is just information. That isn't reality, though, and the courts and laws agree that people who create content can sell it. I won't pontificate further on that, but leave with a parting piece of information relating to the prior paragraph: if the "no DRM" crowd wins, we won't have lots of content with no DRM suddenly... what we'll have is broadcasters and content creators that won't have any reason to share their content. Hollywood will release it's next generation of DVD replacements, this time with something less laughable than CSS protection, and that'll be it. No PC viewing of digital content, just analog. Depressing to me...
Source: DRM in MCE Rollup 2
Next, Mike Calligaro explains why upgrades aren't offered for some Windows Mobile devices, even though
the hardware and operating system can support it:
Why
Can't I Upgrade
They
Why Do You Get To Upgrade? (quote: We don't
call it "dogfood" because it tastes good)