First we heard that Microsoft Vista will lock down people who don’t validate their licenses, and the European Commission will be looking into Vista to see if its features are anti-competitive.  Now PCPRO publishes that the security community are worried that Microsoft will lock them out in:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/95016/mcafee-alleges-microsoft-is-compromising-vista-security.html

“Microsoft has taken special care with the security of Vista not only to build its reputation for creating secure software but also, according to Symantec, [to] safeguard the digital rights management (DRM).”

Of course it’s not clear exactly what flavor of DRM we are talking about here.  Is this music, film, games, Microsoft applications, or could it be the start of a licensing regime where there are no independent vendors of any of these things, only those licensed by Microsoft?

Add into that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which says that you can’t investigate security mechanisms to find out if they work, and you might be forgiven for thinking that this is a recipe for allowing monopoly suppliers to deliver code that doesn’t work and prevent a free and competitive market by licensing and pricing.

It remains to be seen who is the most successful at ensuring a continuing, open and competitive DRM market space, the European Commission or the IT security vendor community.  Watch this space!