Are you serious? With the amount of effort you've spent complaining here, you could have already found out how to do it. And it's a one-time learning thing - once you know, you'll know for next time too. Software is free. Handbrake is popular. You have the hardware. Time is trivial. Seriously, unless you have eight kids, you have the time. And frankly, people had the time before digital downloads became popular over the last few years - society hasn't changed that much.
The only argument you have is 'inclination', and frankly that's an argument against anything. There are people who prefer physical disks because they like the physical entity and find digital-only to be too ephemeral (witness the endless screeds against Steam not existing in the future, for example). Their inclination is the opposite of yours.
Your argument style is simply to grossly exaggerate the point. I also find it amusing that you follow a tech startup blog that markets itself to 'hackers', yet consider learning how to rip a disk 'considerable effort'.
Found out a method that might work in less than 10 minutes and try it out and find that it works? Possibly I could do that. (I've made 2 comments, Took about 10 minutes). I'm not sure I own the proper drivers to do it, I don't know enough about the video format to know what is required to decode it. I know my Grandmother, youngest half sister, step-mother, and many aunts would be nonplussed to do it (as I was arguing how valuable the media was to everyone, not to me; I pointed out YOU assumed EVERYONE had your abilities).
It was illegal until 2010, and I haven't owned DVD's since Xmas 2009. So yes, no inclination personally either. But I know that list of people has much better things to do than to learn to do all that stuff.
Now I own no (non-computer) DVDs. Why buy some? Why learn to do anything to them? I don't have any of the media.
I'd not even look at buying the DVD. Just like I don't look at buying the record, or the 8-track, or the floppy disc/betamax combo pack.
The only argument you have is 'inclination', and frankly that's an argument against anything. There are people who prefer physical disks because they like the physical entity and find digital-only to be too ephemeral (witness the endless screeds against Steam not existing in the future, for example). Their inclination is the opposite of yours.
Your argument style is simply to grossly exaggerate the point. I also find it amusing that you follow a tech startup blog that markets itself to 'hackers', yet consider learning how to rip a disk 'considerable effort'.