Microsoft responds to Vista DRM criticism

Ahead of the January 30 launch of the consumer edition of its new Vista operating system, Windows has responded to criticism of its digital rights management (DRM) system.

The Vista copy protection system has come under fire after reports that protected content, such as video and audio, would be downgraded or not playable without approved hardware - which could lead to upgrade costs for businesses and consumers who switch to this version of Vista. The business-version of

Vista launched November 30.

Additionally, the Vista DRM system uses additional processing power and has lead some to say Microsoft is allowing content producers, such as film and music studios, control over users' computers.

One report, by Peter Gutmann, a computer science lecturer at the University of Auckland, gave an example of audio playback. For example, a legal high-definition DVD may be reduced in quality or not playable if their monitor does not meet high-bandwidth digital copy protection (HDCP) or are otherwise regarded as insecure by Vista's Content Protection specification, which Gutmann called "the longest suicide note in history".

"Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost," Gutmann wrote. "These issues affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC industry, since the effects of the 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)."

The concerns were addressed - though not necessarily alleviated - by Dave Marsh, a lead program manager for Windows video, via the

Windows Vista Team Blog.

Marsh writes that previous versions of Windows had similar control functions, and "hasn't resulted in significant consumer problems".

He added that the "quality constraints" will only be active when protected content is running and will not affect other content open on a user's desktop. For organisations using Vista in the workplace, Marsh writes that non-protected content, such as medical images or video, should not be affected.

However, the majority of reader responses to Marsh's post were critical. Gutmann told the BBC: "In general, some sort of DRM is necessary, but we need to strike a balance. It's very consumer-hostile technology that is being deployed."

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