Ministry of Propaganda - 21/Oct/2003: "Protected e-mails..."
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Protected e-mails...
I had blogged about the leak proof e-mail before, today I found a little bit more information: The BBC has another report, mentioning "Microsoft says a free viewing program will be available for those who receive a protected document but are not using Office 2003".
Then I went to the Microsoft website to find out more. This is what I found: A "Rights Management Add-on for Microsoft Internet Explorer". A what? You must be joking...
If someone sends me an e-mail protected by this DRM I have to install some add-on to be able to read it? Oh, and this thing only works in Win2k or WinXP and IE6? OK, I've got WinXP, so technically I would be able to do it. But do I want to? And what about people who don't want to (or can't) use Microsoft software?
In a way this smells of a devious way to expand Microsoft's position by stealth. You want to work with us? Well, we send all our e-mails, files etc DRM protected. You don't use Microsoft? Oh, sorry, we can't work with you then. You better get Microsoft Office 2003...
I think it will be interesting to see how that develops. Will what I mentioned in the previous paragraph happen? Or will it potentially go the other way? No, our software doesn't support DRM, you will have to send it unprotected if you want to work with us. I guess it will depend on who is stronger in a business relationship (or any other for that matter).
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Entry trivia
When writing this entry the weather was: Cloudy. Slightly warmer than yesterday.
When writing this entry I was listening to: BBC Radio 1
During the last hour before I wrote this entry I visited this website: Anderlecht -vs- Celtic preview
End of entry trivia
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