Landmark Theaters is rolling out digital projectors in all their theaters. In Boston, this means the Kendall Square Cinema; in San Francisco, it means the Embarcadero, the Bridge, the Lumiere, and the Aquarius in Palo Alto. Biggest indie cinema chain ever. This has huge implications for independent film (good ones), which John Tynes explains better than I.
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It also locks you into the Microsof camp.
I can’t say I understand precisely what that means.
I am pretty sure that I am not required to run Windows in order to go see a movie projected via this system. I am sure that the movie theaters will need to run Windows-based projection systems, and the DRM (digital rights management) system will be a Microsoft system.
You gotta have a DRM in a system like this. No question. Part of the deal is that movie distributors must be confident that their movies will not replicate like little bunnies beyond their control.
So… sure. It’s a Microsoft system. If it was an Oracle system, would that mean you were locked into the Oracle camp? I don’t think so; I think it’s just that we’re leery of Microsoft. But it’s an independent system that doesn’t interact or force interaction with any other element of Microsoft’s empire. If this system were excised from Microsoft and sold by someone else, it wouldn’t need to change in the least.
Also, and not insignificant — who exactly would you like to see theaters using? It’s hardly Microsoft’s fault that there are no open source projects which come close to fulfilling the DRM requirements.