So, Microsoft, e-books and DRM

[peterb]

And this highlights the danger or problem of all cloud based services. Most of us probably use one or more of Google/Apple/Amazon/Microsoft/Dropbox/Box etc etc but we are at the mercy of those providers continuing to provide that service! While it is unlikely that the big players will stop, the terms of service can be changed at little notice - remember photobucket?

[DanceswithUnix]

Yep, and Kodak wasn't a small name back when I bought that photo frame.

[Saracen999]

And this highlights the danger or problem of all cloud based services. Most of us probably use one or more of Google/Apple/Amazon/Microsoft/Dropbox/Box etc etc but we are at the mercy of those providers continuing to provide that service! While it is unlikely that the big players will stop, the terms of service can be changed at little notice - remember photobucket?

Not that unlikely that "big players" will stop, given what MS have just done, and that when Apple stopped paying certain movie distributors for rights to some movies, those movies suddenly became unavailable to consumers that had "bought" via Apple. It doesn't even need to be a decision by a "big player" to shut an anture service: just a change in the digital rights they choose to pay for and the "purchases" consumers made in good faith just vanish.

Either way, MS and Apple are hardly small players, yet both have done this.

What it comes down to is anything we buy with DRM we csn only really be sure we can use pretty much right now, and next week, next month, next year .... well, it's a bonus uf you still have it but don't assume you necessarily will.

And depending on how a given DRM system works (i.e. when it checks validation) it may be that all the "big name" has to do is turn off the server. Oh, and as with Apple (and unlike MS) don't assume compensation will follow. It may, but it may not.