Comments on: Vongo.com is Not a Flash Poster Child RIA

By: Chris Marks

Chris Marks — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 05:00:25 +0000

Flash 8.5 and The website locking out Macs were probably both vendor marketing choices. They probably decided that given that the product can’t be viewed on Macs, that they would locked them out. Plenty of other sites like Sony Connect do this.

By: Danny Patterson

Danny Patterson — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 06:23:14 +0000

I guess I should have been clearer in my post. I had nothing to do with the vongo.com web site and everything to do with the Vongo desktop application. I completely agree and think vongo.com should work on a Mac and FP8.5.

Jesse has it right when he said ‘DRM isn’t for consumers.’ And just because there is a small percent of people hacking movies doesn’t make DRM worthless. Just think how many more people would be violating copyright law if it weren’t for some sort of DRM protection.

And I don’t think anyone would be happier than Starz (the company behind Vongo) if Apple started supporting subscription-based DRM. Who knows, maybe Vongo will get big enough that Apple will have to listen. The press releases for Vongo explain that Microsoft and Sony (makers of the PSP) have already partnered with Starz for the Vongo service. Is Apple next? We can only hope. :)

RE: Flash Detection…if they would have used Geoff’s FlashObject this wouldn’t be an issue.

By: Phillip Kerman

Phillip Kerman — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 08:44:53 +0000

Ah, DRM… my favorite thing to hate. It’s true that any software DRM is nothing more than false security. Therefore, you’re not doing clients any favors by giving them what they want when you give them a half-baked DRM solution. I’m not saying vongo is an example of this–in fact, I installed the exe and it worked just fine on the desktop.

I’ll spare you all my long lecture on this topic, but when you give the client what they request–without telling them it’s a false security–you’re not doing them any service (not to mention the fact it primarily annoys your legit customers).

By: JesterXL

JesterXL — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 02:32:40 +0000

DRM isn't for consumers, it's for providers to feel their content is protected. They are more willing to relinquish control over their brands to make money in the hands of others if people can sell them that their content is for the most part is protected. You don't tell Time Warner 'Anything can be hacked', and expect to get a sale out of the deal. First comment to this entry summed it up really well for me in regards to how Apple has successfully done it... sort of. Depends on how you define success.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 02:20:49 +0000

What is the point of DRM on the files? I challenge you to find a single movie availabe for download from their service that isn’t already being pirated in the dark corners of the internet.

So, to sum up, the DRM doesn’t stop people from pirating their shows, it only annoys people who have legally paid for the downloads, and in fact loses customers because their DRM doesn’t work on macs. Makes perfect buisness sense to me.