On Thu, 8 Aug 2002, R. Hirschfeld wrote:
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 16:25:26 -0700 From: AARG!Anonymous <remailer@aarg.net>
The only way that TCPA will become as popular as you fear is if it really solves problems for people. Otherwise nobody will pay the extra $25 to put it in their machine.
Although I support the vote-with-your-wallet paradigm, this analysis seems overly simplistic to me. Macrovision doesn't solve problems for most VCR purchasers, but they pay for it anyway. They have no choice.
Well put! In fact, Macrovision creates problems for people, does very little to stop "theft of intellectual property". But what it does do is negatively impact the base product, share out a piece of the profits to an otherwise non-player, add a layer of annoyance, and accomplish nothing of benefit for the target, the end user, the one who pays the money.