I wonder if this is the reason that Apple hasn't delivered anything in HD yet. No HD-DVD, no Blueray, no HD contents on iTunes. The only HD available on Macs is the content that the users can provide, like home movies from HD cameras with iMovie HD, or content downloaded from the internet (questionable sources).
Remember, to play DVDs legally, you need to license the encryption technology from Hollywood (or from who creates it for Hollywood) under Hollywood's terms, that's why Apple DVD player application doesn't even allow screen shots.
I bet that the studios are insisting on Vista-like DRM controls in OS X before they give license to Apple to play blue ray or deliver HD contents through iTunes.
So this problem is not completely created by Microsoft, it's created by the content owners. Microsoft's part in the problem is that it's too eager to please content owners in order to make its solution the first and most desirable solution to play any kind of contents. Had Microsoft refused to help the studios shackle their users with such draconian DRM schemes, maybe the studios would have reconsidered their ridiculous stance.
Until Apple delivers HD solutions with less restrictive DRM than Microsoft, you can't really put all the blame on Microsoft.
Although, John brings up some good points, I still think your analysis of the issue is spot on. Well done.
Microsoft is ever too easy to please corporations first, with consumers second. This causes all sorts of problems for them over and over again. Only a monopoly would prevent these cock ups from taking their business down, however. They are very insulated, but I have to wonder if their walled garden is starting to fail. Certainly they take more heat in the press these days than in their heyday of Windows95. Their stock also tells a tale of woe.
Could Microsoft be chasing too many tails now using strategies that used to work to notice that they are hurting themselves? It will be interesting to see things play out as soon as Apple offers HD content. Only 10 days from now before we find out what Apple has planned, if anything.
That would be "ever to EAGER."
Perfect timing to see this start happening in the real world... a bad market day when I needed a little "I am glad to own AAPL" feelgood.
What MS doesn't quite get is that Windows isn't the monopoly it once was, thanks to the web, virtualization and Intel based macs. I have been stuck on windows for many years due to work requirements. Those requirements haven't changed but I just bought a MBP. I'll use Windows where I need windows, MacOS for the rest. Vista DRM will never be an issue.
Alternately, the person quoted in this story could virtualize his PC and run his video off of an XP virtual machine. Assuming he needs Vista at all.
Software developers went through this same thing in the 80s/90s, with various schemes to make disks uncopyable. And the lesson we learned was that all we were adding is inconvenience to our paying customers... while the thieves found a way to steal anyway.
But MS is still in the mentality that customers need Windows on a Windows PC and will live with anything MS requires of them. Worse for them, they don't get that Vista has serious competition from Windows XP... and that hardware and software developers will be supporting XP for a long long long time.l
OS X looks better and better compared to Visya every day.
Another reason to avoid Windows!
At every opportunity, Microsoft sides with their OEMs, Content Providers, Partners - ABC (Anybody But the Consumer). They have never placed any emphasis on Ease-of-use and being consumer friendly, and this is reflected in the way content protection is implemented in Vista.
MicroSoft is looking more and more like RIAA's little brother!
Apple heard John, as the iTunes Store will now be offering HD movies for rent (not to own, as yet), playable through the Apple TV. (They can't yet be played on Macs because of the licensing situation.)
Considering Vista/Longhorn took about 7 years... get a mac.
Commenting by HaloScan
