Thread: no drm means no good apps?
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gerbick
2010-07-01 , 17:36
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#70
Originally Posted by woody14619 View Post
A Zune?
Because it has a marketplace analogous to iTunes Music Store. That's why.

The real answer is that MS does not provide ANY out of the box DRM for installable native applications, which frankly is the point he's making. Windows doesn't have a DRM model setup and in place that prevents you from installing and/or copying apps. If you get the MSI for an app, you can install it. There's no way, built into the system, to prevent someone from getting said MSI file and/or from installing it on a non-authorised device.
That's why I asked the question and never got an answer. If you're talking about just deploying DRM protected content within an application versus utilizing DRM in protecting an application; the words to craft those sentences are hugely different and normal people with the ability to talk to more than a 5th grader level can do just that. Hasn't happened yet.

DRM content? Use WMStubDRM.lib or wmvcore.lib. They're built-in to the system. If you were to completely follow the Zune marketplace analogy, once you submit, they (being Microsoft) applies their DRM methodology to the submitted application. If you're talking about your own *.exe or *.msi that you've developed... then you will invariably have to use a third party method to protect your app.

It's the same for any *.dmg on the Mac. It's the same for any other non-Linux OS. Protecting the actual file from being installed when a person has actual access to it will never happen. Once installed, then the protection schemes start - licensing, registration, et al. Please show me where this is different outside of marketplace type of apps.

So the argument being presented is as such:
If Microsoft doesn't provide DRM on their system (by default), and people still develop for it, then DRM is not a requirement for doing business.
See above. It matters - mp3, mp4, avi, wmv - it's built-in. If you mean *.exe, *.msi, it's up to the developer... always has. But you do have access to a DRM layer that's there - it can hook into it if needs be.

I think you people are ignoring the fact that once something is submitted to the Windows Media Marketplace (Windows Mediaplace/Play For Sure) or the Zune Marketplace, or even the XBOX Live Marketplace, the DRM is placed on by the company just like they would for the iTunes Music Store or even Ovi Store for that matter (for approved companies). Only apps in the repositories are not covered as such.

Personally, I think the community here is strong enough that if you put out a decent bit of software for a reasonable price, you'll have people buying it up vs pirating it. The built-in DRM that OVI has now is strong enough to make it not worth hacking the system for a $5 app. (Angry Birds and Zen Bound showed this quite well...) DRM is about making it more trouble than it's worth to pirate... I think they've hit the mark at this point, and we'll see a slow trickle of things coming in soon.
I don't personally think so if you're looking for it to be a mainstream product. And apparently neither does Nokia/Intel. MeeGo will have DRM.

Angry Birds and Zen Bound are only installable, purchasable via the Ovi Store. They don't have DRM, but they have to have had a way to be distributed and that was via the Ovi Store. And to my knowledge - I could be wrong - it ties into your IMEI number and thus is only installable only by that person that purchased it.

That's DRM-ish in their deployment. It's pretty darn similar to how we used to create a machine based GUID during my VB6 days and insert that into the registry and the app would or would not run that way. We could never stop folks from downloading or sharing the app, but if you didn't have the proper keyword to GUID combo, it wouldn't run, circa 1999.

In the mean time, the free software that's out there already is really a lot better than what many devices have in their existing for-pay app stores. If your concept of "good apps" == race car games, fart boxes, and playboy strip poker, then no, this is not your device. If your idea of a good app is one that lets you do something useful (like manage your finances, or remotely monitor your home), you'll find what you need here.
And there are corporate apps that aren't easily duplicated. There's not one app that duplicates all of Skype's functionality - ok, that's a bad choice, it's using a lot of closed sources, services and protocols - so... let's say games. I don't mean Tux Race, nor Bounce. I mean, there's no Need For Speed. Not that it's needed, but darn it would be nice to have something recognizable on the device instead of knock-offs and approximations for the mainstream user.

It's not about who's device it's for... you have to see outside of the typical egocentric tendencies and see who got left out. The Linux Desktop market share represents mainly who would have bought this device.

Nokia will need more than that to call this a mainstream device. And the necessary evil that goes with it... DRM is in tow unfortunately.