Both of Microsoft’s rights management technologies will evolve separately for the foreseeable future. Windows Media DRM will be Microsoft’s most prominent technology for protecting digital media, but the company is slowly looking beyond that technology-for example, by signing ad hoc deals to support other DRM systems, and by building technologies into the OS that can be used to enforce restrictions imposed by other DRM systems. Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) will remain Microsoft’s solution for protecting corporate data, and although the update schedule for that product is uncertain, likely areas of focus are enforcing organizational policy, better business-to-business exchange of protected documents, and broader application support. In the long run, the two technologies might evolve to take advantage of emerging hardware-based encryption technologies.

Digital Media: Beyond Windows Media DRM

Windows Media DRM will continue to be a critical part of the Windows Media platform, and Microsoft will continue to improve its capabilities for content owners and the usage experience for end users. Equally important, the company will continue to promote Windows Media DRM to the consumer electronics industry. For instance, in May 2005, the company signed a deal with Philips to incorporate support for Windows Media DRM 10 in a future chipset that it sells to consumer electronics manufacturers. This deal is significant because Philips has never supported Windows Media DRM, has spent considerable time investigating and developing alternate DRM systems, and has been an ally of Sony-one of Microsoft’s major competitors in the digital media and DRM space.