Linux is FREE, both as in liberty and as in FREE BEER.   Some folks carry this to extremes and won't use anything on their PC that isn't open source and free.    I call them the "purists".

I am a pragmatist, I use Linux Mint that has all the binary blob proprietary codexes and proprietary graphics drivers from all the various suppliers built right into it from the get-go.   I don't want to be inconvenienced by somebody's philosophical hang ups, really  .....

So, Amazon Prime Instant Videos quit working on me two weeks ago.   Amazon when asked WTF simply says they honor Digital Media Restrictions (the law) and use the latest available HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) and the latest 11.7 Flash specifications.    Flash quit supporting anything but MS and I-OS at revision 11.2 so anything written for Flash 11.7 is an automatic issue these days.  

These are Flash versions and digital rights management signatures as pushed by MS, Intel, music industry, film industry, etc.  

It is the law now.    Some bureaucratic rule writing arsehole in Washington says so.    It wasn't really passed as a law, it was just a regulation that has all the weight of law.    So it becomes the law unless somebody passes a real law that undoes it.    Or some politicians go slap the hands of the bureaucrats for getting frisky.  

(cutting their funding works pretty well, I hear)

What this means is that if your computer doesn't reply back in to say you properly own or have a current license for the stuff you are viewing then Amazon's oh so legal servers will lock you down after 15 seconds of viewing.   If your machine lacks the software to do this data exchange, you get locked down as well.

And this has put the backs up of all the international open source people and they just ain't a gonna have anything to do it.   Remember, the vast majority of open source people do NOT live here in the USA, and they view our whacky little DRM laws as a subject for bad jokes down at the pub after work.

Not even Linux Mint (French) or Firefox (Mozilla Foundation International) will go as far as doing anything to fix it (just yet anyway).

HOWEVER, Google (USA) will and Chrome browser has.   Google wrote a "written from scratch" Flash equivalent, registered it with DMR people and paid for all of it, nice and legal ....

So, if you want to watch you some movies during this time of thumb twiddling semi-religious "freedom furor" go get you a free download of Google Chrome Browser.  

I find I already pretty much know how to use it and it sucks up your preferences and bookmarks from whatever you are currently using just fine.   It even winds up instantly LOOKING like whatever you were using before, which I think is kinda nifty neat too.   I imported all the settings and bookmarks and Chrome browser imported the "look and feel" specs for my tweeked Firefox set-up too.    

Nice.

This experience also lets me know that Chrome OS wouldn't be a show stopper to me if that ever became necessary, so that too is something good to know.

I guess this sort of "freedom" stuff happens every few years .....    we will all get over it in six months or so.






 And thank you Google, for writing your own modern version of FLASH equivalent to make this possible and paying for all the DRM registration B.S. that went along with it.   And then giving it away for free to old cheapskates like me.

And yes, we know you are good enough to write your own OS, and we also know you just don't want to "be evil" and go finish off Microsoft yourself.   You'd prefer for the digital land masses to just slowly roll right on over them all naturally and quietly.

We get that.

One of our open source brethren in one of those you can bother me here countries should write an open source DRM implementation that automatically responds with the appropriate I already own this for anything you access.

I admit, I don't know anywhere near as much about DRM as I probably should.  I know there are several DRM strippers out there that will remove that crap from anything you buy so you can use it as you are entitled under the copyright laws, including making your legal backups.

MS only sells you the use of their operating system and office software for one (1) computer (sometimes they counted your PC and your laptop as your one computer, back when the laptop was seen as an either/or situation with the main PC).

Now that they have enforced DMR available to exercise, look for all those extra uses you put your old MS installation CD to to DIE on you as soon as MS gets around to doing it.    

(or need a critical system update that you have registration issues getting)

The world is grouping itself into open source purists, open source pragmatists and the pay out the nose Microsoft Masai cattle .   (you know, the cattle that have to open a vein once every year so they can be bled into a bowl so their real owners can have something to eat).

Now AMD and INTEL wants to put a Masai chip into everybody's stuff so they can have the joys of the donation bowl --- ain't that nice.

Folks are figuring out they can live without Microsoft.    This deadly serious stuff for Microsoft and for all the old Wintel folks.  

Intel is figuring out the only reason folks will buy their chips is for being restricted Masai food cattle.   AMD wants to survive any way they can, so the idea sounds good to them.

Google isn't going to bite on this, I think they have more sense than that.

Nokia is a fresh example of what happens to a Microsoft anything partner.




Now as far as car software goes, haven't you been hit up at the 1 year point yet for the over $100 update to the road maps that reside inside your GPS?   Or $200 to run your satellite radio stations?    

Masai car stuff, Masai all the way.

Per one of the other threads.. dont be so sure you OWN data in your car. Currently when the EDR (Electronic Data Recorder = Cars Blackbox) records an accicent that data is often nabbed by the police and or given to the insurance company. You want the data?? be ready to pay. Don't want them to have the data... be ready to given a subpeona.  I am trying to find the location of my EDR ( no its not under the dash... thats just the OBDCII port that accesses the EDR and cars various other boxes.  


ugggg now I know how the old farts felt about things such as seat belts.