OT: VISTA

[Fyron]

You can't really blame MS for HDCP. They couldn't get a license to support full HDMI output without fully implementing HDCP. If they did not, all they could do is output HDCP-protected video at non-HD resolutions. Your scorn in this instance is more correctly placed at the feet of the content industry (primarily the MPAA). HDCP is only an issue with Blu-ray and HD-DVD, not regular DVD movie playback, which does not have the higher-resolution HD support. The MPAA is obsessed with copy protection, and will only license Blu-ray and HD-DVD technology to companies that are willing to integrate HDCP. If they did not require it, MS wouldn't have bothered implementing HDCP. Display manufacturers (monitors, tvs) have to support HDCP as well, otherwise they won't be able to play high resolution movies. Its quite an insidious system...

MS could have chosen to not support HDCP, but then they could not include software to access Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies (or drives, for that matter) at full resolution. They apparently decided it would be better to support new technology than be left behind, and thus ridiculed for that reason.