We’re not entirely sure who would be more upset, copyright holders who have been desperately trying to install a three strikes regime everywhere in the world or Microsoft after they receive a lawsuit from those same copyright holders. It’s unlikely that, in the face of the MGM vs. Grokster case, that Microsoft will exactly be showing off this aspect of the soon-to-be released OS.
There’s been the odd rumour here and there that Microsoft is colluding with copyright holders from time to time. One rumour suggested that Longhorn, now known as Vista, would not play unlicensed content. Of course, rumours like that eventually fell apart sometime during the release of the OS. This is what makes the notion that Windows 7 is designed for piracy.
The report comes from Wired via CNN where the author put together 7 reasons to use Windows 7. One of the reasons to switch to Windows 7? Piracy will now be a breeze:
Yarr! We know there are plenty of you out there downloading pirated digital booty, especially in Windows land. But it’s never been convenient to be a pirate compared with being a paying customer. For example, if you’re a legitimate buyer purchasing movies off iTunes, you can easily stream your media to your legitimately purchased Apple TV. If you’re a pirate, you’d have to go through roundabout programs and hardware to re-create the experience.
Windows 7 is an OS practically made for pirates. Want to display your movies, photos or music on your TV? Bam! Windows Media Player will do that out of the box if you have a Wi-Fi enabled TV, or an Xbox. No extra programs to install: Windows Media Player seamlessly communicates with your Wi-Fi device to display your illegal content in all its glory on your fancy HD TV.
And sharing media is easy, too. Want to download all of your brother’s music? Bam! HomeGroup, an easy networking feature included in Windows 7, will make that super easy between computers running the OS. Immediately upon plugging in to your network with Ethernet or Wi-Fi, HomeGroup will ask if you wish to join the group on the network, allowing you to set up easy file sharing in minutes.
It’s more than likely that this reason is a little tongue and cheek, though it’s doubtful groups like the RIAA would be laughing. Still, some Windows supporters in the past have suggested that Microsoft continues to dominate in the OS market, in part, thanks to not actually proving the rumours that there would be a form of trusted computing that would quash all forms of unauthorized content.
It’s unclear how Microsoft would actually handle the label of Windows 7 as being a Piracy Operating System, but content being shared between computers isn’t an entirely new thing for Windows given the shared directory has been part of a Microsoft Operating System for quite some time now – not to mention the whole concept of networking computing.
Regardless, it’s hard not to see the humour in the idea that Windows is “made for pirates”. We can already see the sales being higher than expected already.
Have a tip? Want to contact the author? You can do so by sending a PM via the forums or via e-mail at drew@zeropaid.com.
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Haha, well it’s nice to know Microsoft has slowed it’s efforts to stop piracy, but I’ll stick with linux thank you. It’s an operating system that I can download for free, share without fear of litigation, tinker with at my leisure, and no anti-circumvention measures are going to keep me from exploring what my computer can do. Now that’s what I called “made for pirates”.
I think the author is having some fun too, because really the things he says are for piracy just make for better usability of the computer.
Streaming to a TV is hot, and Microsoft would be hurting Windows by not having that feature and making it as easy as possible.
Maybe they are thinking that they had better make something that people can use rather than worrying about the fear of a possible lawsuit.
Windows has to do this to compete with Linux, which just keeps getting better. Ubuntu with the ‘Medibuntu’, ooh it’s sweet, media playback for every format that most people need in one package.
“I think the author is having some fun too, because really the things he says are for piracy just make for better usability of the computer.”
Oh yeah. It was a fun article to read and this was a fun article to write. It’s totally obvious that this wasn’t meant to be a serious piece, just poking fun at the functionality.
I wish more people saw that in this, but unfortunately, few bothered to read the article and chose to take offense to it instead.
More like competing with MacOS now that Apple has done the test marketing. There are two companies competing for their idea of a ’seamless media environment’, from pc to phone to entertainment center, neither of those companies makes Linux and both versions of the technology have end to end support for DRM.
malgre: blah blah blah blah blah ….
perhaps there are some people out there that:
1 create their own media
2 want to watch their own media on their own wifi hdtv etc
why is it that all this has to come from the point of view of a pirate?
who gives a flying BLEEP who wants to share what within their own network?
now if you were to fire up media player turn on the latest dvd you just brought then open the relevant ports on ya dsl router/firewall then advertise you are watching a film, what ya ip address is & port to connect to it would be an issue.
but really is sharing between YOUR OWN DEVICES within a PRIVATE LAN really such a hot potato that it warrants the label of PIRACY
FFS come on the more people who talk about this and that being aimed at pirates is fueling the problem!!!
GET OFF THE BAND WAGON COZ WE ALLO KNOW ITS BROKE AND POINTLESS
Claiming “made for Piraccy” and then touting media and sharing capability is quite a stretch. Maybe the author knew including Piracy in the headline would create more buzz because the article is a big yawn and this way it delays it by dozens of seconds.
who has a wifi tv? LinuxMCE will netboot and stream media to any system connected to your network, and it’s designed to run on TV’s. Oh yea- and you can control your lights, climate, phone, security, and surveillance- all while sitting on your couch with a remote, knocking back a brew.
Your right though, Windows is perfect for piracy though (tongue in cheek) -Who wants to pay microsofts ridiculous prices, when they can just download it for free?
The only truly special about windows left is playing games anyway- in the next few years linux will dominate all.
Theres no more ability in Windows 7 for piracy then there was in Windows XP. Media center has always been able to stream media to my xbox without any problems. Just because Windows 7 can stream ANY content doesn’t mean it is “made for piracy.” Feels like poorly planned out article.
Sheesh, it’s called having a sense of humour. Not every article has to be stone cold serious you know.
Yes, doesn’t sound like the new OS can do much more than I could have done with an S-video cable almost 10 years ago, I’ve never had a problem putting any content on a TV. I agree with Spyder, calling Windows 7 made for piracy is just supporting the idea that Microsoft should expect its customers to illegally download digital content and has a duty to drop useful features just because they can be used, not to break the law, but to convenience someone who already has.
First question… Did the RIAA pay you to write this article?
Second question…. Who are you quoting when you say in the headlin: “Report – Windows 7 is ‘Practically Made for Pirates’”
This is a very dumb conclusion. It is like saying a walkman is made for pirating because it can play ANY cassette tape. Copyright is not a Operating System problem and the copyright holders should be finding a better way to make money than to try their protect a failing business model.
“Second question…. Who are you quoting when you say in the headlin: “Report – Windows 7 is ‘Practically Made for Pirates’””
Why not read the article to find out?
HAHAHHA sorry,.. but that rea crap article… you could do that LONG ago with just on protocol called UPnP, or Winamp, XBMC, Itunes.. and countless programs out there INCLUDING windows vista…and more… even though with the windows 7 things are more easy to use… well thats what you as a consumer would like to right? EASY TO USE thing? if not everyone would go to linux server since just a hand full of people now how to deal with text interface. moreover you re just a bit more exited because of the damn “out of the box” thing,just go look at other OS and you will see that thats the direction of the market and the user expectation… and users are not execting “piracy” content otherwise itunes wouldnt own 25% of the whole music market share in the US… please.. a bit of research would be better specially coming from this website. this article is a tabloid crap. fyi i hate MS and copyrights.. but in this circumstances i had to say something
Drinking and commenting aren’t always a good mix.
I get the humour… it’s pretty funny!
You can do this with Win XP today. You don’t need media center edition XP is good enough. It’s media player that gives Windows this functionality not the OS.
That whole article is inflammatory.. so in turn here’s something even more inflammatory. (Go big or go home, people)
Here’s the only way the RIAA would ever be “happy with an OS”: it’s the all new RIAA-OS!
1) All playing of media is controlled by an RIAA master server, which keeps track of what you have bought from them. All companies that make OS’s must pay a licensing fee to access the main server, and that cost is passed down to the customer. That way they can restrict or disallow media from companies that do not pay their inevitable shakedown fees (forget network neutrality, people). They can also censor any media they want.. for our protection, of course.
2) the OS automatically debits your bank accounts every single day and sends the money directly to the RIAA, whether you are playing your media or not.
3) The OS randomly deletes/breaks content, forcing consumers to re-purchase their media on a regular basis (since the RIAA doesn’t believe in perpetual ownership of media and prefers when people purchase the same music 4 or 5 times over their lives)
There.. is that inflammatory enough for you? I hope so.
Also, the RIAA can still suck it.. go fall in a pit, you dinosaurs.
Is anyone really buying this? It’s clearly just a bullshit attempt by Microsoft to “accidentally” leak something that makes the average user want to try windows 7. Vista and windows 7 have more DRM than any OS before, including deliberately making your movies look worse so you can’t copy them perfectly. They also completely removed TV support from Windows 7 Server. Anyone interested in free access to their own media, or even just having a decent OS, should steer well clear.
+1 Joe
This M$ marketing propaganda. Trying to get all the cheap skates to upgrade. Seeing that they like $h!tty 700mb cam video’s displayed on their 52″ 720p (half) HDTV. M$ realizes the avg. lurker will be impressed by this article. And buy his/her next Name Brand PC with WindBlow$ 7. Because even M$ knows the avg. lurker is to impatient to down load a full DVD; let alone smart enough to install an OS or the drivers required for hardware support. So many people half @$$ run their PC’s. Corporate Machines have turned them in to an annuity. Every six buzz word and the lurker buys something.
No no! The author meant Windows itself is made for piracy, as in Windows is good to pirate because it cost so much e.g. LMAO
If hackers could strip DRM and other anti-features/spyware/bloat from Win7, also replacing M$ codejumble with a stable kernel and open file standards maybe it would be worth DL’ing for free off the torrents … but why bother, when Linux is already there?