This topic has come to the limelight with pretty hot debates once Vista has been released. Lets just see what all this controversy is about.
Windows Vista includes content protection infrastructure specifically designed to help ensure that protected commercial audiovisual content, such as newly released HD-DVD or Blu-Ray discs, can be enjoyed on Windows Vista PCs. In many cases this content has policies associated with its use that must be enforced by playback devices. The policies associated with such content are applicable to all types of devices including Windows Vista PCs, computers running non-Windows operating systems, and standalone consumer electronics devices such as DVD players. If the policies required protections that Windows Vista couldn't support, then the content would not be able to play at all on Windows Vista PCs. Clearly that isn't a good scenario for consumers who are looking to enjoy great next generation content experiences on their PCs.
What is all the fuss about this and how does this affect the common end users :
from http://www.coofercat.com/node/1081
Vista is all about 'premium content'. This is music or video that's copyrighted by one of the major music or movie companies. Basically, if any such content is being played, Vista goes into a sort of 'protected mode'. When this is happening, your computer becomes very careful not to 'leak' this protected content. That means that any devices on your machine that can play this content (eg. your video card, sound card etc) have to work in a special way. The idea is (for example) that your video card will send coded signals to your monitor, so that you couldn't plug in some sort of recorder and simply scoop up the signal and record it. The problem is, not all monitors/TVs can handle these coded signals. If yours doesn't then Vista will reduce the quality of the output so that it's not worth recording. Incidentally, you don't get a choice, it just happens.
Futher than that, if you're listening to a CD, then your monitor may go fuzzy at the same time! Just because one thing is handling protected content, the other may become crippled as well!
As if that's not enough, some devices can simply become disabled, either during premium content playback, or at some arbitrary time in the future as decided by Microsoft. Basically, if a device (or it's associated driver software) are found to be leaking content sometime in the future, then Microsoft can stop it working when you next update your computer. Given Microsoft's history in this area, it's pretty much required to update your computer say, once a month at the moment, so you're almost certainly going to *have* to get your leaky device disabled reasonably soon after MS decide to disable it. They'll disable things until some fix can be found, provided one can be found. Maybe the hardware/driver in question is so old the vendor doesn't want to fix the problem, or maybe it just can't be fixed.
This is horrible: You update your computer to protect yourself from viruses and such like, and instead your graphics card stops working! If it's one built onto the motherboard, perhaps on a laptop, then well, you're screwed - go and buy a whole new machine, as it's almost certainly not worth trying to fix it.
So to summarise these few points (yes, there are more I haven't even mentioned!):
1) All Vista compatible hardware will be more expensive than it otherwise would be. This is because hardware vendors have to comply with very strict rules, and have to add extra hardware features to their products to make them work with Vista. This all requires extra testing, which aside from costing more takes more time.
2) When playing premium content, your computer's performance may degrade. That is, the video or sound quality in particular may degrade, but also raw system performance may also degrade as your computer works to protect that premium content as it moves around inside your computer.
3) Whatever your computer is doing today, it may not do it tomorrow. If you're unlucky enough to have some hardware which later is found to be unfriendly to the content industry, it may just aribtrarily stop working. It's not because of a hardware failure per-se, and you may not even know how, or want to copy premium content, but Windows will refuse to use your device. If you're really lucky, an update may come along in the future, if not, you may well end up buying a new computer (oh, and your old one probably won't fetch much on Ebay either!).
I don't think Vista sounds like a good deal for end-users. Microsoft look set to do quite well out of it, provided we all lap it up like we're supposed to.
Update 14th Feb, 2007: A little looking around brings more to light about Vista's hardware requirements. Reghardware started me on this trail, but arstechnica have a slightly more inclusive article along the same lines.
To me, these articles say very loudly: Don't buy a Vista PC until AT LEAST June 1st, 2007, and preferably June 1st, 2008. Only then does the hardware you buy fully reach maturity, and so will be optimal for running Vista. Before that, you'll always have hardware that doesn't do everything Vista wants. Given what we know about Vista and it's use of hardware, I'd say anything less than optimal hardware is an incredible risk to take. Annecdotally, by June 2008 it's also likely that there'll be a Service Pack or two out, so the major problems with Vista will have been fixed.
So by Vista if you must, but wait until June 1st, 2008 to do it.
Explanation from the Vista blog :
Associating usage policies with commercial content is not new to Windows Vista, or to the industry. In fact, much of the functionality discussed in the paper has been part of previous versions of Windows, and hasn’t resulted in significant consumer problems – as evidenced by the widespread consumer use of digital media in Windows XP. For example:
* Standard definition DVD playback has required selective use of Macrovision ACP on analog television outputs since it was introduced in the 1990s. DVD playback on and in Windows has always supported this.
* The ability to restrict audio outputs (e.g., S/PDIF) for certain types of content has been available since Windows Millennium Edition (ME) and has been available in all subsequent versions of Windows.
* The Certified Output Protection Protocol (COPP) was released over 2 years ago for Windows XP, and provides applications with the ability to detect output types and enable certain protections on video outputs such as HDCP, CGMS-A, and Macrovision ACP.
It's important to emphasize that while Windows Vista has the necessary infrastructure to support commercial content scenarios, this infrastructure is designed to minimize impact on other types of content and other activities on the same PC. For example, if a user were viewing medical imagery concurrently with playback of video which required image constraint, only the commercial video would be constrained -- not the medical image or other things on the user's desktop. Similarly, if someone was listening to commercial audio content while viewing medical imagery, none of the video protection mechanisms would be activated and the displayed images would again be unaffected.
Contrary to claims made in the paper, the content protection mechanisms do not make Windows Vista PCs less reliable than they would be otherwise -- if anything they will have the opposite effect, for example because they will lead to better driver quality control.
The paper implies that Microsoft decides which protections should be active at any given time. This is not the case. The content protection infrastructure in Windows Vista provides a range of à la carte options that allows applications playing back protected content to properly enable the protections required by the policies established for such content by the content owner or service provider. In this way, the PC functions the same as any other consumer electronics device.
Aren't there already output content protection features in Windows XP?
Yes. Output content protections are not new requirements for commercial content. The CSS content protection system for DVD-video discs requires output protections such as Macrovision ACP and limiting the resolution on component video outputs to standard definition. Windows XP has supported these requirements for some time.
They provide a set of 20 questions and answers as well.
An excerpt from the article "Microsoft Buffeted By Criticism Over Vista DRM"
By Alexander Wolfe , TechWeb Technology News
From Microsoft's perspective, its attempt to comply with a DRM scheme developed by the consumer electronics industry is getting unfairly blown up into a nefarious plan that's far from reality. "Articles saying that you will need new monitors with Windows Vista to play any DRMed content are not correct," said Ken Birge, a spokesman for Microsoft. "Any DRM content that's out there today, you'll be able to play with any existing monitor using Vista."
However, Birge confirms that new monitors will be required to support full playback of high-definition DVDs. "Next-generation DVDs will require HDCP for playback," Birge said. "So that requires HDCP protection all the way out to monitor. As PCs become more of a home entertainment device, consumers are going to expect to play back next-generation DVDs. In order to do that, Microsoft has to require this HDCP support all the way out to the monitor. It's very much following suit to what the consumer electronics industry has already done."
Indeed, Birge pointed out that many high-definition monitors made for the consumer electronics market already comply with HDCP, though most computer monitors have yet to do so. The next-generation DVDs will play on old-style monitors, he said, but in a degraded performance mode. "If you have a Windows Vista machine, and you have your legacy monitor, and you were to pop [in] one of these next-generation DVDs and try to play it back, it wouldn't not play," Birge said. "What it will do is down-sample to something around [standard] DVD quality; you won't get the high-definition experience."
At least one Microsoft watcher sees the company as caught between a rock and a hard place on the DRM issue. "Microsoft is trying to serve two masters, and that's not always an easy task," said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research, "Master one is Hollywood and the content providers, who want their stuff protected. Master two is the consumer, who wants to be able to get at everything easily. And Microsoft's kind of caught in the middle. There are a lot of [DRM] mechanisms being proposed and implemented and Microsoft is just hedging its bets here. If [HDCP] really reaches a mass market, then Windows Vista will be able to support it."
so, whats the catch here, one should/not buy Vista until this problem is cleared by all hardware vendors that you depend on? Or else end up paying for Vista and low performance of your hardware?
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Programmers are brain surgeons
In the last post, i forgot to tell you how i reached that post, it was actually from this blog entry....checkout this one as well
http://blog.saush.com/?p=157
I sent out a mail recently to some managers in my company (before you start rolling your eyes, I’m a manager too) about project scheduling, something which I’ve been very frustrated about for a long while. In that mail I quoted something from the book “The Art of Project Management” by Scott Berkun — “Programmers should be trusted. If your brain surgeon told you the operation you need takes five hours, would you pressure him to do it in three?”.
Craig was quite amused at this quote, asking if I compared myself with a brain surgeon. While it was friendly banter, I thought that this was one of the problems with the software industry. Maybe it is the naming/association with the construction industry where architects design the building, engineers oversees the construction and anyone doing the actual work is considered menial laborers. Maybe it is the thousands working ’software factories’ for outsourcing body-shoppers. Maybe it’s the large software projects that suck up thousands upon thousands of man-days with huge teams of programmers that gave rise to the myth that only large teams of programmers can produce software of any significance.
Whatever it is.
I believe programmers are not given enough respect that we deserve....
Read the rest at the actual blog
http://blog.saush.com/?p=157
I sent out a mail recently to some managers in my company (before you start rolling your eyes, I’m a manager too) about project scheduling, something which I’ve been very frustrated about for a long while. In that mail I quoted something from the book “The Art of Project Management” by Scott Berkun — “Programmers should be trusted. If your brain surgeon told you the operation you need takes five hours, would you pressure him to do it in three?”.
Craig was quite amused at this quote, asking if I compared myself with a brain surgeon. While it was friendly banter, I thought that this was one of the problems with the software industry. Maybe it is the naming/association with the construction industry where architects design the building, engineers oversees the construction and anyone doing the actual work is considered menial laborers. Maybe it is the thousands working ’software factories’ for outsourcing body-shoppers. Maybe it’s the large software projects that suck up thousands upon thousands of man-days with huge teams of programmers that gave rise to the myth that only large teams of programmers can produce software of any significance.
Whatever it is.
I believe programmers are not given enough respect that we deserve....
Read the rest at the actual blog
32 Reasons Why Geeks are Severely Underpaid!!!
I came across this interesting article on why geeks are underpaid (compared to say, sales people). Read it at http://www.negotiations.com/articles/geeks-earning-more/
You're good at what you do, maybe you're an ace. So are you being paid what you're worth? See how many of the 32 Salary Negotiation Rules you're using.
Why are sales professionals still rewarded with the biggest pay packets?
Are sales professionals better qualified or smarter than IT professionals? No, there's no such thing as a sales degree. Do they work longer or harder? Of course not. So why then is IT not the best paid profession?
Two main reasons:
1._Sales brings home the bacon. So measuring their success is easy, and their impact on profit is immediate. Technology's profit impact is neither immediate nor easy to measure. Geeks can't do much about this - sorry. 2._Salespeople negotiate every day. So they either negotiate well, or they have skinny kids, and change career paths. Every year 1 in 3 leave the sales professional - a much higher churn than the IT industry. Geeks can't afford not to play catchup here. The good news is that learning to negotiate well is not nearly as difficult as mastering a programming language.
We've watched salespeople out manoeuvre and out negotiate geeks in the opening hours of our training courses. In response we've put together this comprehensive IT salary negotiation article to help geeks close the gap.
We start with 32 essentials. We suggest that you mark your diary to review this article when looking for your next position, raise or annual review. For those interested in a bright long term career trajectory and the bigger cheques this brings, answer the questions and complete the exercises outlined in our "4 foundations steps" towards the end. Finally, to assist you in your preparation, download our Salary Negotiation Checklist (M$ Excel). Time to put your starting salary, salary increment, or pay raise under the negotiation microscope.
The author then goes on to talk about 32 IT Salary Negotiation Rules :)
You're good at what you do, maybe you're an ace. So are you being paid what you're worth? See how many of the 32 Salary Negotiation Rules you're using.
Why are sales professionals still rewarded with the biggest pay packets?
Are sales professionals better qualified or smarter than IT professionals? No, there's no such thing as a sales degree. Do they work longer or harder? Of course not. So why then is IT not the best paid profession?
Two main reasons:
1._Sales brings home the bacon. So measuring their success is easy, and their impact on profit is immediate. Technology's profit impact is neither immediate nor easy to measure. Geeks can't do much about this - sorry. 2._Salespeople negotiate every day. So they either negotiate well, or they have skinny kids, and change career paths. Every year 1 in 3 leave the sales professional - a much higher churn than the IT industry. Geeks can't afford not to play catchup here. The good news is that learning to negotiate well is not nearly as difficult as mastering a programming language.
We've watched salespeople out manoeuvre and out negotiate geeks in the opening hours of our training courses. In response we've put together this comprehensive IT salary negotiation article to help geeks close the gap.
We start with 32 essentials. We suggest that you mark your diary to review this article when looking for your next position, raise or annual review. For those interested in a bright long term career trajectory and the bigger cheques this brings, answer the questions and complete the exercises outlined in our "4 foundations steps" towards the end. Finally, to assist you in your preparation, download our Salary Negotiation Checklist (M$ Excel). Time to put your starting salary, salary increment, or pay raise under the negotiation microscope.
The author then goes on to talk about 32 IT Salary Negotiation Rules :)
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Exchangeable image file format
I happened to have a talk with my rommie about having some "meta tags" inside images/videos to enable faster searching in the net. I did disagree with him over the concept of just having some meta tags inside images to describe them, as he pointed out, it is(was) being used in html pages for better searching of pages. Then today, i came across this information on a standard file format used by digital camera manufacturers to embed information on images captured by their devices.
Exchangeable image file format
Exchangeable image file format (official abbreviation Exif, not EXIF) is a specification for the image file format used by digital cameras. It was created by the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA). The specification uses the existing JPEG, TIFF Rev. 6.0, and RIFF WAVE file formats, with the addition of specific metadata tags. It is not supported in JPEG 2000 or PNG.
Version 2.1 of the specification is dated June 12, 1998 and version 2.2 is dated April 2002.
The Exif tag structure is taken from that of TIFF files. There is a large overlap between the tags defined in the TIFF, Exif, TIFF/EP and DCF standards.
The metadata tags defined in the Exif standard cover a broad spectrum including:
* Date and time information. Digital cameras will record the current date and time and save this in the metadata.
* Camera settings. This includes static information such as the camera model and make, and information that varies with each image such as orientation, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, metering mode, and film speed information.
* A thumbnail for previewing the picture on the camera's LCD screen, in file managers or photo manipulation software.
* Descriptions and copyright information. Again this is something which is most often done when post-processing the images, as only high-end camera models let the user choose a text for these fields. (Although this feature is becoming more and more apparent even in lower end compact digital cameras).
Editing EXIF-fields
Tools
The Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is the chief Free Software image manipulation program which can handle EXIF data via an EXIF viewer plugin.
There are also several command line tools that are for example helpful for batch editing EXIF meta data like jhead and ExifTool (Perl script), that can display and edit XMP, IPTC and EXIF and other metadata.
ExifTool runs on OS X, but requires a Perl interpreter (such as ActivePerl) to run on Windows.
Mapivi (open source) is a picture manager which is able to add, edit, search and remove image meta information as EXIF and IPTC.
Gimp, Mapivi and jhead are also available for Mac OSX and Windows.
Linux/Unix users
Many free software image programs like the digital camera management program DigiKam and the general purpose image viewer Gwenview (both KDE based) can handle EXIF as well.
MacOSX users
Apple's iPhoto can be used to edit title, date, time and keywords. The camera information can also be viewed.
JetPhoto can be used to add GPS data to a photoalbum. JetPhoto uses timestamp information to correlate tracking data from a GPS device with the timestamps on the photo. JetPhoto is freeware so there is no charge but it does not appear to be open source. Keywords, and titles can be edited but no other information.
Reveal can be used to view and edit EXIF summary and exposure data.
Windows users
Programs XnView (free for non-commercial use), Picasa (freeware) and IrfanView, (free of charge for private use) are able to edit IPTC fields such as captions, keywords, etc., but unluckily can only view most of EXIF fields. Else Exifer (postcardware) Konvertor (shareware) is capable as well editing and modifying the EXIF header.
For more information on this,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXIF
see, no wonder why people call me a wiki fan :)
Exchangeable image file format
Exchangeable image file format (official abbreviation Exif, not EXIF) is a specification for the image file format used by digital cameras. It was created by the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA). The specification uses the existing JPEG, TIFF Rev. 6.0, and RIFF WAVE file formats, with the addition of specific metadata tags. It is not supported in JPEG 2000 or PNG.
Version 2.1 of the specification is dated June 12, 1998 and version 2.2 is dated April 2002.
The Exif tag structure is taken from that of TIFF files. There is a large overlap between the tags defined in the TIFF, Exif, TIFF/EP and DCF standards.
The metadata tags defined in the Exif standard cover a broad spectrum including:
* Date and time information. Digital cameras will record the current date and time and save this in the metadata.
* Camera settings. This includes static information such as the camera model and make, and information that varies with each image such as orientation, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, metering mode, and film speed information.
* A thumbnail for previewing the picture on the camera's LCD screen, in file managers or photo manipulation software.
* Descriptions and copyright information. Again this is something which is most often done when post-processing the images, as only high-end camera models let the user choose a text for these fields. (Although this feature is becoming more and more apparent even in lower end compact digital cameras).
Editing EXIF-fields
Tools
The Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is the chief Free Software image manipulation program which can handle EXIF data via an EXIF viewer plugin.
There are also several command line tools that are for example helpful for batch editing EXIF meta data like jhead and ExifTool (Perl script), that can display and edit XMP, IPTC and EXIF and other metadata.
ExifTool runs on OS X, but requires a Perl interpreter (such as ActivePerl) to run on Windows.
Mapivi (open source) is a picture manager which is able to add, edit, search and remove image meta information as EXIF and IPTC.
Gimp, Mapivi and jhead are also available for Mac OSX and Windows.
Linux/Unix users
Many free software image programs like the digital camera management program DigiKam and the general purpose image viewer Gwenview (both KDE based) can handle EXIF as well.
MacOSX users
Apple's iPhoto can be used to edit title, date, time and keywords. The camera information can also be viewed.
JetPhoto can be used to add GPS data to a photoalbum. JetPhoto uses timestamp information to correlate tracking data from a GPS device with the timestamps on the photo. JetPhoto is freeware so there is no charge but it does not appear to be open source. Keywords, and titles can be edited but no other information.
Reveal can be used to view and edit EXIF summary and exposure data.
Windows users
Programs XnView (free for non-commercial use), Picasa (freeware) and IrfanView, (free of charge for private use) are able to edit IPTC fields such as captions, keywords, etc., but unluckily can only view most of EXIF fields. Else Exifer (postcardware) Konvertor (shareware) is capable as well editing and modifying the EXIF header.
For more information on this,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXIF
see, no wonder why people call me a wiki fan :)
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