DRM is lame: Bill Gates
p2pnet.net News:- Chairman Bill apparently also believes DRM is for the birds, just like everyone. Except the entertainment and software cartels, of course.
Microsoft recently “convened” a small group of bloggers to discuss the upcoming Mix Conference in Las Vegas, posts Michael Arrington on TechCrunch.
He goes on:
One of the questions that I asked was his opinion on the long term viability of DRM. I don’t hide the fact that I think DRM isn’t workable, and actively support DRM-free music alternatives such as eMusic and Amie Street. The rise of illegal or quasi-legal options like AllofMP3 and BitTorrent ensure that users have plenty of options when it comes to DRM-free digital music.
Gates didn’t get into what could replace DRM, but he did give some reasonably candid insights suggesting that he thinks DRM is as lame as the rest of us.
Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which “causes too much pain for legitmate buyers” while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are “huge problems” with DRM, he says, and “we need more flexible models, such as the ability to “buy an artist out for life” (not sure what he means). He also criticized DRM schemes that try to install intelligence in each copy so that it is device specific.
His short term advice: “People should just buy a cd and rip it. You are legal then.”
He ended by saying “DRM is not where it should be, but you won’t get me to say that there should be usage models and different payment models for usage. At the end of the day, incentive systems do make a difference, but we don’t have it right with incentives or interoperability.”
Arrington emphasises his quotes are rough, adding, “Still, it is interesting insight from a man who is in a position to shape the future of digital music models.”
Here’s how Steve Rubel remembers it:
Q) Is digital rights management (DRM) sustainable over the next 10 years?
A) DRM is not where it should be. In the end of the day incentive systems (for artists) make a difference. But we don’t have the right thing here in terms of simplicity or interoperability.
Everyone who was at the love-in also received a Zune to call their own. And that, says Arrington, brought his Zune total to three.
“What’s on your Zune?” – Rubel asked Gates.
“All of the U2 stuff plus a lot more musicals than you might expect – for example, Wicked.”
The pic is from Rubel’s flickr post.
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Also See:
TechCrunch – Bill Gates On The Future Of DRM, December 14, 2006
Steve Rubel – Our Sixty Minutes with Bill Gates, December 14, 2006
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December 14th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
So “Windows Genuine Advantage” isn’t DRM? What a hypocrite. There’s far more advantage, from a convenience standpoint, to use illicit Microsoft software that doesn’t call you a rat fink every time you buy a new video card.
December 15th, 2006 at 2:18 am
Just think of 12 different kinds of DRM in VISTA….if that is not the “pot calling the kettle black” I don’t know what is!
If Bill really wants to make a difference, then he should strip out the DRM in Vista completely! Otherwise he is just a stupid hypocrite.
December 15th, 2006 at 5:06 am
“Otherwise he is just a stupid hypocrite.”
better call it oportunistic.
he is a smart man, those stupid men that own the rights in content want DRM and he wants to stay in business, so if the “content-men” want DRM he offers it in his OS for them.
You can truly think personly something is stupid (like DRM) but if those with the money demands it, you give it to them to stay in business. That’s not hypocrisy (sp?) thats opertunism (sp?). And billy is the perfect example of such a guy!
IMO it was not just plain stupidity of the engineers that their music playing device does not support these old DRMshit!