But if you just want your driver to load under Windows Vista x64, you can take care of business in a matter of seconds, by using your own certificate to digitally sign it, a process called Kernel Mode Code Signing (KMCS).
...
Anyone can get a software publishing certificate from the independent certification companies listed here, none of which is owned or controlled by Microsoft. I found a suitable certificate for $229.
Not that I still do, but back in Uni, I created my own drivers for various equipment, not the least of which was a serial port controller for a solar hot water system. In Vista, would I have to pay for a certificate to load a driver I created? (i.e. I just want to load my unsigned, unofficial, completely hacked up XYZ controller)
For all of his arguments about degraded output and hardware (non HDCP over DVI), or poor early implementations of HDMI (i.e. customers don't know their HDCP is not compliant), you are right, as you have found out, few of the content companies are using the controls they have built in. As you have said, there is the ICT flag, and other controls the content companies COULD use. Your testing showed that the HD disk played through PowerDVD was not using the optional Vista functions (but they could, will they?)
One of Peter's biggest flaws was simply that he assumed the content companies WOULD use them, they won't yet, I have said, about all this new HD DRM, etc, the content companies will fall all over themselves to play nice until critical mass. They don't want to disenfranchise the new market, but once mature, they will probably (my prediction), activate once the amount affected are in the minority.
We will see the relative merit of the analysis down the road, when (if?) the content companies activate. They may not, as much as they wish DRM is effective, they may be forced to give up the pipe dream to sell content, or they may miscalculate the backlash.
From the Blu-Ray FAQ, one of the more contentious of my issues is the potential to mandate internet connectivity for monitoring.
No, you will not need an Internet connection for basic playback of Blu-ray movies.
Maybe you can get an answer. Blu-Ray, for this and other reasons, is a non option because they will not answer this question.
What is basic playback, and will it always include full 1080p without an internet connection? I will require it in black and white, written down for all to see, that forever, a Blu-Ray device will NOT require an internet connection for 1080p without other penalties (like 14 minute FBI warning, or I have to watch 48 previews unless the player can connect to the "opt-out" preview server, etc). IMO, they won't answer this because internet revocation and update is critical to BD plus.
The Blu-Ray part is a tangent, but is relevant to how they could change the rules in the future.
I will be interested in how you counter one chapter that is, starkly true, namely Increased hardware costs.
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html#hardware
HDCP, certification, driver development, it all costs money, and we know who pays for it in the end.
TripleII
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