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Microsoft Offers A DRM Patch

Posted by timothy on from the consumption-of-media dept.

Transcendent writes "Microsoft Windows Update is offering a download for their 1.0 version of the 'Microsoft Windows Rights Management client,' if you care to download it. Seems that you need Win98 SE and up (or at least that's the minimum 'supported'). Details are here. Although it's not required or a 'critical' update, this just paves the road for all of Microsoft's software to require DRM technology on your computer. Quote from the details page: 'Installing this client allows RM-aware applications to work with Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) to provide licenses for publishing and consuming RM-protected information.' This, dubbed 'Activation', entails that 'your computer will be automatically connected via the Internet ... in order to create and save on your computer a system component that is associated with your hardware.' Hmmm... me no like ..."

4 of 644 comments (clear)

  1. Office 2003 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is probably the rights management system included in office 2003 which lets you sign and limit future use of your word docs. This is what end users of your protected documents will have to install to read them. In this case, the 'rights' that are managed are the ones YOU grant. No proplemo with that.

  2. Act FAST -- explain situation to your friends by bigberk · · Score: 5, Informative
    We can all help spread awarenes sof what's going. I suggest emailing your friends and getting this simple message across:
    "Digital Rights Management" offers the end user, or consumer no real advantage. They will NOT see more functionality by installing D/RM; in fact they will see less functionality. There is nothing 'broken' with their computer.
    In fact, the scary part might be... not only is their computer not broken, but PCs today might be much more functional than those of 10 years in the future.
  3. Re:also know as... by leifm · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ummm...this is IRM not DRM. The difference being that IRM is a rights management deal for Office documents, targeted at corporate environments. The download lets you view IRM protected documents without having Office 2003 installed, this isn't DRM, doesn't have anything to do with MPAA/RIAA, and is optional. So stop with the whining.

    --

    "Windows Me offers tremendous reliability and stability improvements..." -- Paul Thurott
  4. The truth.... by Psx29 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This discussion from microsoft shows where they are planning to go with this. It is going to be part of the Windows 2003 server line. Or you can use microsoft's own service (which uses passport) if you don't want to run your own server. And all of this does tie in to office 2003 as it looks like the first product to take full advantage of it. Talk about vendor lock in....