Digital Restrictions Management in Office 11

conaone writes "According to a Microsoft Watch, there is a feature in the leaked Office 2003 called "Information Rights Management." A lot more control over documents with this... the story says: "Microsoft is threading DRM throughout the Office 2003 suite, allowing restrictions to be set on Outlook mail messages, as well as on Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Using "permission templates," document authors can determine restriction policies to be applied to entire categories of documents, according to Microsoft's site." Here's a link to the whole story."

Comments

Yes...

[MrEd]

There's demand in any organization for digital rights management... you want to restrict modifying the purchase order forms to the accounting department, but make them globally readable? Check.

Not all DRM is about P2P.

Re:This shouldn't concern anyone on Slashdot

[twert]

Of course your are forgetting the most anoying thing about being in IT.... "You know some thing about computers, can explain why I can't print this e-mail" I can see the stupid questions pileing up now.

(Does it look like I work at for the help-desk?)

Re:This shouldn't concern anyone on Slashdot

[MikeXpop]

Wrong. The majority of /. readers use Windows. Besides, even for those of us who don't use any Microsoft products at all, it's always good to know. Keep in mind slashdot is News for nerds, not News for Linux users.

Next gas: 50 miles

[lynx_user_abroad]

This is a warning to all of you who have Important Data inside a Microsoft file format: This is your last chance to get the information out of a proprietary format and into a format you can control.

Once this hits the market, anyone trying to sell software which can bypass the access control mechanisms of Word to read copyrighted information (it's all copyrighted) from within a protected document will be strung-up as a DMCA criminal.

This feature will not be offered as a part of Open Office.

It's kinda like those "Last gas for 50 miles" signs you see outside the overpriced gas station in the middle of the desert. Here's your chance. Miss it, and there's no turning back.

The Implications of this are Huge

[Teckla]

Think about it:

* It makes the chances of writing an office suite that is compatible with MS Office 2003 almost impossible. I bet the DMCA will make it illegal to reverse engineer the crypto you'll find this new IRM technology uses.

* It boosts Windows Server sales, since this technology will require Windows Server. UNIX-based file servers need not apply; they aren't IRM-enabled (and not allowed to be, thanks to the DCMA).

* It'll force users to upgrade Office. Yes, Office 97 already does way more than you need already. Too bad. You'll need to keep your version compatible with all the IRM-laden .doc, .xls, .pps, etc. files that'll be flying around.

* The PHB's of the world will eat this technology up without realizing the consequences.

Microsoft is brilliant. Fucking brilliant. I thought they were starting to lose it, but they're not. They've found new and amazing ways to leverage their monopoly; except, this time, it's not their OS monopoly. It's their office suite monopoly. My hat is off to you, Microsoft.

Corrections welcome.

-Teckla

Let me guess

[skintigh2]

Software that doesn't support DRM will not be able to view these documents, and making software such as open office compatible will be a DMCA violation.

It's all falling into place quite well. It's amazing what kind of ROI you can get on Senators.