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posted by martyb on Saturday October 31 2015, @10:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the Digital-Restrictions-Management dept.

Microsoft has announced (non-Javascript version) (emphasis in original) that

As of November 15, 2015, Zune services will be retired. You will no longer be able to stream or download content to your device from the Zune music service. However, Zune devices will still function as music players and any MP3 content that you own on the Zune device will remain there. You'll also be able to transfer music to and from your Zune player.

Note Content that was purchased with DRM may not play if the license can't be renewed.

Existing Zune Music Pass subscriptions will be converted to Groove Music Pass subscriptions.

Analysis:


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday November 01 2015, @01:35AM

    by anubi (2828) on Sunday November 01 2015, @01:35AM (#257069) Journal

    I never bought into Zune. This story details exactly why I highly resist paying for any form of DRM'd software.

    Nor do I have any DRM'd music, nor movies.

    Only the people who paid a business for DRM'd stuff are the patsies that get taken advantage of, with what they paid for rescinded at the flick of a switch.

    While the money they paid does not.

    I learned my lesson years ago.

    My employer paid dearly for that handshake with the sales rep. I learned the lesson - I feel I learned the lesson far stronger than my boss who signed for it did.

    When I spend money, it represents something else I had to do without. Its just another budget line item to management. Another price hike to the consumer. I am sure if that came out of my boss's bonus, he would have been more pissed than I.

    It was a CAD system, and I had spent years digitizing the company's facility drawings into it from tattered vellums remaining from a previous flooding encounter.

    I was determined to make sure our facilities documentation would never again be threatened by acts of God. I never even considered acts of lawyers, licensing, software obsolescence, and copyrights. As far as I was concerned, I knew I could maintain that machine the rest of my life if I had to. Nothing unusual there. We routinely used machines that were over 100 years old, and did not think much about it. It was an oil refinery - full of good stuff - made to last.

    Now, I did go EAGLE for my later stuff, only because they told me it was a perpetual license for that version of software. The OS it runs on (WIN7) is also supposedly perpetual - providing I do not let Microsoft go behind my back and "upgrade" to WIN10, which ( thanks, guys) was shown here to be a rental.

    Once forced to allow Microsoft in behind my back, I have no doubt Microsoft will "work with" other software vendors to mandate "upgrades" to other softwares, which may place quite a bit of work on me to maintain legacy datasets. I remember well how Microsoft "worked with" FTDI to brick interface chips.

    If I had done something like that: hacked into people's systems, and uploaded something that destroyed their hardware, I would not be typing this right now - I would be serving JAIL TIME.

    I realize its the old "teacher's pet" system in play, and our legal system is not going to do anything about stuff the big guys do.

    If anything, I hope more people become infuriated at all this one-sided law and begin seeing absolutely nothing wrong with going around the potholes businesses place in the road. I know business types are running around saying its unethical, wrong, or violation of their rights for us to bypass the problems they generate for us - and are doing kiss-ass to Congressmen big-time to have their positions codified into Law. To me, what things have been done to me in the name of "rights" has caused a complete erosion of my sense of ethics as far as what steps I will take to steer around potholes others place in my path.

    If business wants to sell me a chair with a thumbtack in the seat, I see absolutely nothing wrong with removing the thumbtack after purchase.

    Nor do I see anything wrong with purchasing a chair someone made, despite the fact someone else says he can't make one because he has a piece of paper saying the other guy can't make one. Somehow, we have elected a Congress that has ushered in this kind of lunacy - and, like diapers, need to be changed. ( Hat tip to Mark Twain ).

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @11:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @11:32AM (#257133)

    Previously here, Markus Zingg's misadventure with Cadsoft was mentioned. [soylentnews.org]

    If you use their product, you may be punished for the acts of others.
    To avoid that, if you use their product, you must make ALL of your *.DEVs yourself.
    If you reuse one that someone else made (using a cracked version of the product), you could find yourself locked out of your work product as Markus was.

    Closed-source software--Cadsoft's in particular--should be avoided.
    Hidden gotchas and randomly-changed rules dwell there.

    -- gewg_

    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Monday November 02 2015, @04:13AM

      by anubi (2828) on Monday November 02 2015, @04:13AM (#257357) Journal

      Somehow, I missed that.

      Thanks!

      This particular thorn probably won't prick me as I am so particular about my parts and libraries that I make my own so all of my work is consistent. I may copy a concept, but I will not copy/paste someone else's work into my drawings.
      br>
      This is not due to fear of copyright violation or whatever, but there are little things like not knowing which grid settings or layers the parts are laid out on. I have had absolute fits trying to connect to parts when someone else uses a different grid setup than I use. Even my own boss.

      He sent me through two weeks of special hell trying to use a library of parts he created when I was first trying to learn Eagle. Turns out he did not know much about Eagle either, and had his grid set to 0.0001. I was using the default grid of 0.1". I would go through all sorts of gyrations trying to get the parts to connect and get the wires to look halfway decent. When I discovered his library was a lot of cut and paste of stuff he found on the net, no wonder I had no consistency. Seems very few people will take the time to do it right if they can get it done now, even if its buggy.

      I am still using the old version 4.16 as I fear Microsoft may screw up everything after WGA activation technologies were introduced. I want to be able to continue to support my stuff no matter what Microsoft does.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]