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

[Rob Beard]

On 18/05/12 20:18, Barry Titterton 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.
>
> Barry
>
>

To be honest I think that users will just probably go with another 
program on Windows, as you say VLC, or maybe MPlayer or something along 
those lines.  A lot of PCs ship with DVD playback software pre-installed 
anyway so the manufacturers might just bung on a copy of PowerDVD or 
WinDVD (which I understand also support Bluray playback with if the 
machine has a Bluray drive).

If anything I think one thing that may start to sway people (gamers 
anyway) would be Steam being released for Linux.  I know some people who 
build their own machines from components for gaming.  They don't have 
the technical ability to bypass Windows activation and things like that 
so they go out and buy a copy of Windows to run on the PC.  The 70 odd 
quid they spend on Windows could be put to better use, such as a better 
graphics card, more memory, maybe an SSD boot drive or faster CPU.

Personally I'm not much of a gamer, any gaming I do tends to be on 
consoles but I must admit I am interested in getting Steam and picking 
up Left4Dead 2 when it comes out (I gather it's a launch title for Steam 
on Linux).  I was going to buy it for the XBOX 360, but hey if I can 
support gaming on Linux over filling Microsoft's pockets then I'll get 
it on the PC :-)

Rob