From: Tony Williams 

Geo wrote:
> "Tony Williams"  wrote in message
> news:43501088$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>
>>That might have been the case 10 years ago, but I think people's
>>tolerance for these sort of games is less nowadays. I expect to see
>>disappointing (for MS) sales of upgrades if Vista is crippled on non-DRM
>>hardware; that leaves preloads on new systems, which is where I'm a
>>little less optimistic. That's where we'll see just how strong the
>>preload monopoly is these days.
>
>
> Pretty much all DVD players are crippleware, but people upgraded from VHS to
> DVD anyway because of the quality. It's going to be the same situation here,
> to get HD-DVD compatibility you are going to have to buy HD-DVD compatible
> hardware or look at fuzzy or blank screen.

See my reply to Rich. Region-free DVDs are mainly popular outside the US
where there's a significant advantage to owning them - not having to wait
in line behind the US for new DVD releases. This time around the US won't
be in such a special position so the rules have changed.

> Either that or the underground filesharing networks are going to become
> popular in a very big, very unstoppable way.

I think that would be a bad outcome for everyone concerned.

--
Tony

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