(note that this entry is in the “Inciting Hatred” category. it is not meant to be well argued or anything. I’m ranting. get-over-it).
RealNetworks rep to Linux: DRM or die!
You need DRM about as much as you need anything containing the word “rectal”. Nothing good is prefixed by the word “rectal”. Even if you like it that way – the only time the word rectal is ever used in that context is to do with disease.
Mind you, if you consider all the shit music that’s pumped out these days, maybe if it’s all locked up in DRM and I never see or hear it the world will be a better place. That’s right Robbie Williams, I’m looking at you.
Can anybody remember a time when Real shipped a product that anybody actually wanted to use? No? Well, that’s because they never have. Apart from the wow factor of being able to get audio (and then video) over the Interweb (err… net it was back then)Â it just felt like they hated you. I am still bitter about that linux ppc build that couldn’t even pause reliably.
Even Microsoft did better with their Windows Masterba…err.. Media Player. For a start, I’ve seen somebody use it in the past six years.
So an irrelevant company is saying something stupid and wants to rob me of my freedom.
Say NO to DRM. Also say no to drugs – but mostly say NO to DRM.
Hear, hear.
Rest of the world to RealNetworks: File->Save as… or die!
In what other context to you ever hear the word ‘streaming’? That’s right, unpleasant bodily fluids, often as a result of injury or disease.
Who on earth prefers streaming to downloading (or ‘podcasting’ as the kids call it nowadays)? Who is so impatient that they need to trade off decent sound and video quality for immediacy (with the added pleasure of ‘buffering’ and ‘network congestion’)?
In fact the only rational use for non-saveable ‘streaming’ multimedia is as a poor man’s copy protection. RealNetworks urgently need to undergo a clue insertion procedure. 99% of the stuff I watch or listen to online is downloaded and I would estimate over half is under a free-for-non-commercial-use or more permissive licence.
In fact, whenever I see a product name like ‘RealInsertSuffixHere’ I get the same nostalgic buzz I get when I see ‘Compuserve’ or ‘MicroSoft’ with a capitalised ‘S’.
Oh, and in those rapidly diminishing number of situations where you must use RealPlayer, vsound (http://www.zorg.org/vsound/) rocks.
Matthew.