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About LinkBacksRead more.Dell announced today the availability of products with Ubuntu 7.10 and Built-In DVD playback, emphasising its support for the Linux operating system.
Read more.Dell announced today the availability of products with Ubuntu 7.10 and Built-In DVD playback, emphasising its support for the Linux operating system.
This interests me.
Not because I want one, but because I'm intrigued as to what DVD decoder they're using.
If, as I imagine is so, they're using good ol' deCSS (which is easy to install onto Ubuntu and most distros) then Dell is affirming the fact that users should be able to use encrypted media without OS vendor lock-in induced by the proprietary GPL incompatible decoders.
Of course, some would still have us believe that deCSS is illegal, and Linux users are all DVD thieving communists, but that ship has pretty much sailed (and sunk) now.
And the forward-looking question should be... how will Dell deal with AACS and BD+ when enough customers start wanting to use HD-DVD and BluRay DVDs in a year or so?
Of course, if there was a GPL friendly DRM system for HD content, we'd not have this problem. Or, we could just stop screwing over the consumers who don't follow the pack, and start thinking outside of the box, rather than assuming that everyone's a potential pirate and implementing DRM that gets circumvented anyway.
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They may be using libdvdcss - although the legality of that hasn't been tested in court. I did think that the DeCSS legal case had been dropped in 2004 as it had been available for 4 years and the encryption algorithm was "no longer a trade secret"
Bit more info here.. libdvdcss - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dell is using a non-libre (proprietary), non-gratis (costs money) software called LinDVD.
Also, its cost is being bundled into the hardware cost; its a non-optional purchase if you buy your system from Dell.
I guess that protects them from the risk of any legal action in the US then.
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And it's also a great shame.
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