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Archive for » April 12th, 2006«
Library 2.0 for Dummies
12
Apr 2006
Category: generator
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R.I.P. Windows 98 & ME
12
Apr 2006
Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition Support ends on July 11, 2006:
“Support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) ends on July 11, 2006. Microsoft will end public and technical support by this date. This also includes security updates. Microsoft is providing final notifications to customers to end the extended security update support for these products.” [emphasis added]
Category: windows
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OCLC is offering the following free seminar for the first 50 who register.
On Thursday, April 27th, 9:30am PST/12:30pm EST, join WebJunction for an overview of Public Access Computing Security with a focus on using the free Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit to create secure and trouble free public computers. Dale Musselman from WebJunction and Chris Peters from the Washington State Library share their expertise from years of working with the Gates Foundation US Library Program.
Category: 1
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DRM, a poor explanation
12
Apr 2006
The Denver Public Library has started to offer downloadable video content on their Web site. I plan on testing it out shortly and writing a full review of the system. However, in looking through some of the documentation I found this little gem on the help page:
“The Windows Media Security Upgrade is a one-time process that must be performed before Microsoft Windows Media Player will allow any copyright-protected files to be played.”
[emphasis added]
This sentence is misleading at best and a lie at worst. Windows Media Player will play copyright protected files just fine without this “security upgrade”. I can stick the recently released DVD of King Kong, clearly protected by copyright, into my computer and play it with Windows Media Player just fine without this “security upgrade”. What it won’t play without the upgrade is files that include the DRM restrictions that the content creator is using to enforce their copyright. Yes, it’s semantics, but this is an important issue when attempting to explain to people why they need this software just to watch a video. Copyright protection is a concept, DRM is software.
Update 04/14: I have contacted DPL regarding this issue and here’s their reply —
“Thank you for calling our attention to this. We are working with the vendor to revise the wording.”
Category: DVD, drm, video, windows
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