Personal computers were overwhelmingly successful in because they supported a wide variety of software and peripherals. PCs put digital control of words and data into the hands of end-users, routed around central IT bottlenecks, and a multi-billion dollar market was born.
Special-purpose word processing computers bit the dust. IBM’s monolithic model — where you bought the computer, storage, peripherals and software from the same vendor — lost market share. Microsoft played a huge role in making the PC explosion happen in the 80s and 90s.
Now, Microsoft is breaking this model that made it successful with its upcoming Windows Vista operating system. Audio and video are the latest media to move from the exclusive control of central distribution into the hands of end-users. And Microsoft has written Vista to keep that control out of end-users’ hands.
This News.com story explains how Vista is designed to restrict audio and video capabilities:
For the first time, the Windows operating system will wall off some audio and video processes almost completely from users and outside programmers, in hopes of making them harder for hackers to reach. The company is establishing digital security checks that could even shut off a computer’s connections to some monitors or televisions if antipiracy procedures that stop high-quality video copying aren’t in place.
The News.com article goes into more detail on how Vista reduces opportunites for software developers, hardware devices, and end-users.
This is a fine reason not to upgrade to Windows Vista when it comes out. A software upgrade ought to provide customers a better product, not a worse product.
This is also an opportunity for entrepreneurs building on Linux and web-based services. People who can package easy-to-use, open personal creativity systems have a vast market to gain that’s being left behind by Microsoft.