[ubuntu-uk] Interesting information in The Register that may be useful in evangelism

[Simon Greenwood]

On 18 May 2012 20:18, Barry Titterton <barry.titterton at mail.adsl4less.com>wrote:

> It seems that Microsoft will be shipping Win8 without the ability to
> play DVDs. They justify it by citing the rise in popularity of streaming
> media such as Netflix. Users who really want it will have to pay extra.
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/04/windows_media_dvd_playback_dead/
>
> MS tried this in the past, I think it was with MediaPlayer9, but back
> then users just shrugged and installed a free option such as VLC. But
> now, with Secure Boot, MS can make sure that users do not have another
> option. Except for upgrading to Ubuntu of course!
>
> I mentioned this to some of the youngsters that I work with. They were
> indignant, but more intent on keeping their old windows systems rather
> than trying something new. I shall keep chipping away at their resolve.
> '


Secure Boot doesn't prevent the installation of additional software.
Everything it does happens before the operating system starts up. The
article is fairly unequivocal that Windows Media Player won't include the
codecs to play DVDs, probably to save a licencing charge that, on the
hardware that Windows 8 is aimed at - tablets, netbooks and ultrabooks -
won't be usable anyway. It's actually a win for VLC in that regard as it
does provide codecs for DVD playback for free.

s/
-- 
Twitter: @sfgreenwood
"TBA are particularly glib"
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