I have expired the number of region changes allotted to me in windows (5) on my dual boot system; however, ubuntu still lets me play all regions of DVD. Can anyone explain to me why if the firmware was locked on my DVD drive to region 1 that I am still able to play anything in ubuntu?

Of course, I am very happy about this, but I'd like to understand it.

I found the following thread, but that didn't offer a real explanation:

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-237111.html