By Matt Rosoff [bio]
Posted: Sep. 12, 2005                            Purchase a copy of this 28 page report

Below is an excerpt of a Research Report published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary [Free]

Explains the benefits and limitations of Microsoft's rights management technologies for protecting digital media, such as movies or music, and corporate data, such as documents or e-mails

Introduction [Free]

Microsoft has two distinct rights management technologies—one for protecting digital audio and video, and one for protecting corporate data

Windows Media DRM Secures Digital Media

Since its introduction in 1999, Microsoft has gradually improved the capabilities of Windows Media DRM for content owners while making it less obtrusive to end users

Vista Adds New Protection for Digital Media

Vista will support new copy-protection schemes—including the ability to copy-protect or disable video outputs—in an effort to convince content owners to trust the PC with high-definition video

Rights Management Services Secures Corporate Data

Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) lets organizations restrict the flow of confidential data, but requires expertise to deploy and works only with certain applications

Future Directions

For digital media, Microsoft will continue to look beyond Windows Media DRM; for enterprise rights management, federation is a top priority

Resources

Links and pointers to additional information about Microsoft's rights management technology and strategy