Microsoft does a virtual 180 -- no, wait, a 360
On verge of dumping disliked Vista virtualization restrictions, company changes mind
computerworld.com
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Analysis: DRM may be why Microsoft flip-flopped on Vista virtualization
Did the company's entertainment industry partners get cranky?
June 22, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Conspiracy theorists may link Microsoft Corp.'s abrupt decision late Tuesday not to remove restrictions on consumers virtualizing its Vista operating system to a Department of Justice agreement announced the same day or to a desire to jerk Intel Mac users around.
But the actual reason may be found in three little letters: DRM.
Vista's new digital rights management features enable movies or music files to be password-protected or made accessible only to authorized users for opening, viewing or changing.
Whether most users would call DRM a feature, however, is questionable. A close cousin to DRM technology,
known as Windows Rights Management Services (which in turn is part of a larger category of technologies called Enterprise Digital Rights Management, or ERM), can help business users password-protect key documents and files, or assign the ability to open them only to trusted co-workers. But DRM's main purpose seems to be to help the Warner Bros. and Sony Musics of the world keep consumers from sharing movies and music. The entertainment industry claims that almost all blocked sharing is illegal; digital rights watchdogs argue that legitimate consumer uses are also blocked by such technology...
computerworld.com
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