What’s up Microsoft? Have you really thought this through? Vista’s new content protection policy could cripple end-users experience and hardware/software development.

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The recent report ‘A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection’ by Peter Gutmann analyses the cost involved in Vista’s content protection technology, and the collateral damage that this could have throughout the computer world.

“Vista’s content protection mechanism only allows protected content to be sent over interfaces that also have content-protection facilities built in. Currently the most common high-end audio output interface is S/PDIF(Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format). Most newer audio cards, for example, feature TOSlink digital optical output for high-quality sound reproduction, and even the latest crop of motherboards with integrated audio provide at least coax (and often optical) digital output. Since S/PDIF doesn’t provide any content protection, Vista requires that it be disabled when playing protected content.(quote)”

The overall conclusion is that Vista’s content-protection functionality seems very restrained, as it concentrates so much on protecting content without consideration of the enormous effects it could have on future computing – affecting everyone from the home PC user to businesses and governments. All hardware and software producers will now have to rethink their strategies to incorporate the enforced quality limitations. Microsoft appears to be ignoring the fact that the users of their technology could end up becoming involuntary criminals, by being forced to make copyright infringements just to accomplish their daily tasks.

Here are some excerpts from this thoroughly investigated report that is shocking in its implications.

‘Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called “premium content”, typically HD data from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources.’(quote)

‘Protection measures extend to cover all hardware and software that will ever come into contact with Vista, even if it’s not used directly with Vista (for example hardware in a Macintosh computer or on a Linux server).’(quote)

Below you will find current news feeds discussing this issue…

::rich:::newsphiles