Cold water for Kirk - New comment on The Good Manager, etc, etc, ...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Good Manager, etc, etc, ...":

"It's a big leap from "I can't get my DVD's to play" to "Microsoft has denied my use" (and since you mention AACS, I assume you're only talking about DVD's here). That's quite an accusation, which I assume you will back up with proof very soon.

Not in civil cases, but we're not there yet.

I have been struggling with how to respond to your request. Hmmm. Time for humor as this is a blog after all.

Anything I might say at this juncture is likely to get the post kicked to the cutting room floor, so all the proofs are in, for yrars now, and DRM has been problematic since its inception, always the source of a very unstable and user unfriendly experience.

My proof is in the simple words of Sherlock Holmes from Sign of the Four: "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" and in 'The Undiscovered Country', Spock says, "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." I may not always believe a fictional character like Holmes, but I know its true if Spock said it!

So the improbable eliminations are:
1. DVD player, (NEC RW DVD 6450A)
2. WinDVD 4, other players, (Manufacturer says it should work)
3. missing codecs* Not.
4. my DVDs (i.e., scratches)
5. Graphics driver for notebook nVidia card all current.
6. Other hardware issues (ram, processor, etc.) (computer motherboard, memory display, OS etc., have all been replaced--processor is an AMD 3400, 1 gig of dram,
7. Non DRMed movies (which play fine)
8. XP and Windows 2000 un patched before service packs i.e., circa 2003-04)**
9. Transitional environmental factors such as newly reinstalled os did not fix it, factory reinstalled defaults did not fix it etc.
10. Security software. Tested with and without it and no positive result.
11. Problem has been increasing in frequency for three years . Symptoms changed and continued to increase in seriousness until nothing except non drmed films can now be viewed.
12. consistently kept OS up to date.
13. Computer itself is a widescreen notebook designed for viewing movies and listening to high quality audio on the Harmon Kardon speakers by HP.
14. Region is correct

*codecs. It is conceivable that DRM changes from 2003 to 2007 have outdated 2004 codecs even though the manufacturer claims otherwise.

** unpached windows. DRM has been causing issues with viewing movies since the purchase of the computer in 2004.

The only reasonable explanation is DRM and updates as applied to Windows XP simply because those things were the only variable at the same time that viewing capability failed.

I would like to leave you with something this experience reminded me of. I am a movie buff, and to return to the Spock analagy, in `Star Trek 3 the Search for Spock' Kirk is in a dreadful fight with a Kleon on the Proto planet that is about to explode, and in the fight the Klean loses his balance and falls, hanging on to Kirk's leg to keep from falling into the firey abyss. Kirk tries to help him out but the stubborn and unbending Kleon keeps fighting. Kirk finally says to the Kleon:

"I've (kick) had enough (kick) of you (kick)" as the Kleon falls into the firey abyss from Kirk's kicks.

So let me leave you with this. Microsoft is the Proto Planet about to Explode, you are the Kleon, and I . . . am Captain Kirk . . . of course.

"D- (kick) R-M (kick) doesn't work (KICK).