Microsoft and HP are shipping a holiday-season "entertainment" PC with all kinds of severely restrictive copy-prevention technology built in. It's ironic: MSFT is attempting to leap into the "convergence" world by providing people with machines that are engineered to be as easy to use as a VCR or CD-player, on the grounds that PCs are too tricky for everyday entertainment uses. But the "entertainment" PC takes all the flexibility that's possible in a general-purpose computer and locks it away from Microsoft's customers — it's less entertaining than a cheaper commodity PC. We keep hearing theories explaining why the convergence revolution has fizzled, but doesn't building devices that lack the features your customers demand seem to be the obvious culprit?
But Microsoft has included copy-protection with the operating system that uses encryption to lock recorded TV shows to the PC. Already, consumers can legally record television programs to VHS tapes for personal use and view them on another VCR in the household. Microsoft has taken a more conservative approach by thwarting the sharing of programs recorded digitally. That strategy might make sense as Microsoft attempts to attract Hollywood movie studios with its digital rights management and anti-copying technologies. But consumers may not react favorably to the copy protection, say analysts.
"You have to applaud their efforts (on copyright protection). But this is not a mainstream product, particularly if you're going to limit it where consumers are not going to be able to share that digital media between their DVD players and other devices," said ARS analyst Toni Duboise. "To take that (copying) flexibility away from consumers is a big mistake. There's no way consumers are going to like this proprietary way of doing business."
