Sun, 24 Jun 2007

Virtualization May Break Vista DRM

Now. here's an interesting theory! I know that I've been having massive problems of all sorts with Vista - from getting code to run at all to simply inconsistant results based on version/user login. I've wondered how much of this is due to the DRM schemes built into it. Now I wonder more.

An article in Computerworld posits that the reason Microsoft has flip-flopped on allowing all versions of Vista to be run in virtual machines, is that it breaks the Vista DRM beyond detection, or repair. So is every future advance in computer security and/or usability going to be held hostage to the gods of Hollywood and Digital Restrictions Management? 'Will encouraging consumer virtualization result in a major uptick in piracy? Not anytime soon, say analysts. One of the main obstacles is the massive size of VMs. Because they include the operating system, the simulated hardware, as well as the software and/or multimedia files, VMs can easily run in the tens of gigabytes, making them hard to exchange over the Internet. But DeGroot says that problem can be partly overcome with .zip and compression tools -- some, ironically, even supplied by Microsoft itself.'

(link) [Slashdot]

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