February 12, 2007

Digital Restrictions Management (DRM)

Yea, I stole the restrictions word from Kurt's comment to this Bruce Schneir post.

DRM is another good reason to stay away from Windows Vista:

Unfortunately, we users are caught in the crossfire. We are not only stuck with DRM systems that interfere with our legitimate fair-use rights for the content we buy, we're stuck with DRM systems that interfere with all of our computer use--even the uses that have nothing to do with copyright.

I don't see the market righting this wrong, because Microsoft's monopoly position gives it much more power than we consumers can hope to have. ... Some researchers think that this is the final straw that will drive Windows users to the competition, but I think the courts are necessary.

In the meantime, the only advice I can offer you is to not upgrade to Vista. It will be hard. Microsoft's bundling deals with computer manufacturers mean that it will be increasingly hard not to get the new operating system with new computers. And Microsoft has some pretty deep pockets and can wait us all out if it wants to. Yes, some people will shift to Macintosh and some fewer number to Linux, but most of us are stuck on Windows. Still, if enough customers say no to Vista, the company might actually listen.

Now would be a perfectly good time for Apple to release a version of its operating system that runs on any Intel platform. This is their next step, isn't it?

Via

Update: Coyote Blog agrees and has more.

Posted by Steve on February 12, 2007
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