Re: What Microsoft wants for your future

From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Thu Mar 13 2003 - 15:50:58 MST

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    Mike Wiik writes:

    > Well, there's an interesting discussion right now on /. about office 11
    > (aka 2003) and it seems the initial MS bashing is at least partly wrong
    > when it comes to office 11's XML outputs. Why I don't know yet is how
    > DRM is gonna intersect with Office 11 XML, seems to me if it's XML how
    > can there be DRM?

    I don't know much about the details of Office 11 and Microsoft's plans
    for digital rights management. But certainly there is no contradiction
    between using XML and keeping data protected. There is for example an
    XML data encryption standard, in fact I am working on implementing that
    right now.

    I do find a lot of the MS-bashing rhetoric to be quite confused.
    Some say that MS is going to lock in all its customers and force them
    to keep upgrading or else cause all their old software to stop working.
    Then they realize that the customers wouldn't stand for this and so they
    say that MS is doomed. Nobody seems to appreciate the effects of feedback
    and moderation. Everything is cast in extremes. The sky is falling,
    and we're doomed. No, they're doomed. Well, somebody's doomed, anyway.

    Hal



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