Why? Why do big corps have to pull this crap? Microsoft announced that if you own a 32bit copy of Vista you won’t be able to play HD content. Thus, they are once again forcing everyone to upgrade to a 64bit computer. First there was the hardware specs for Vista which alone would force easily half the existing market to upgrade. Now if you want to play HD movies (Blue Ray or HDDVD) you have to have a 64bit computer.
Microsoft, however, is not entirely to blame.
“This is a decision that the Media Player folks made because there are just too many ways right now for unsigned kernel mode code [to compromise content protection]. The media companies asked us to do this and said they don’t want any of their high definition content to play in x32 at all, because of all of the unsigned malware that runs in kernel mode can get around content protection, so we had to do this.”
Um…no you didn’t. You could have told them no. It’s not like you would loose money. After all, Microsoft owns 80+% of the market and there is no way that the “Media Player folks” would leave. They’re kind of forced to work with you. But wait, I forgot, you guys are bed buddies. Thanks Microsoft. Thanks “Media Player folks”. Now I know why I support Linux and open standards.