New Statesman - Hasta la Vista, baby

"The 'Wow' starts now." This is how Microsoft began one of the biggest publicity campaigns in the company's history. If you were anywhere on Planet Earth at the beginning of this past week, it was impossible not to know that Vista had landed.

Windows Vista is Microsoft's first new desktop version of its ubiquitous Windows operating system since Windows XP. And though in the interim five years most non-techies had not had cause to consider the code that helps run all the other software on their computers, by the end of the week, we all knew what an operating system was. On the day of the launch, Radio 4 news ran Vista as one of its top stories. All day.

Thanks to purported "security concerns", the project has been badly delayed. Features that were promised when the firm previewed Vista (then known as Longhorn) in 2003 have had to be scrapped. Microsoft needs Vista to succeed.

So will it? On the surface, Vista does what Windows does best - completely remove the consumer from the idea that they are using a computer. Whizzy 3D graphics, and homespun-sounding file groups guide computing amateurs through otherwise complex operations. Geeks may write data to/dev/null, but ordinary people prefer putting folders in the recycle bin.

Yet if it all looks too simple, that's probably because it is. Although superficially Vista looks like it is designed with the user in mind, the code that is chugging along underneath is aimed at a very different market: the content industries. Vista represents the very height of content control, and has digital rights management (DRM) - code that defines how you can use your own CDs and DVDs - sewn into its very heart.

DRM is fine if you don't do anything too naughty, like try to copy your CD collection on to your PC too many times. But Vista DRM allegedly goes one step further, discouraging you from connecting screens or audio equipment that do not also have content protection measures in place, by degrading their performance. The full scale of this secret side of Windows Vista will not be known until high-definition content - which this particular feature is designed to protect - becomes a bit more widespread. Windows Vista marks a turning point in computer operating systems. Before Vista, we controlled our computers. After Vista, they will control us.

As a current XP user, I for one will not be upgrading to Vista. My next upgrade will be to Linux, the open-source operating system treasured by geeks around the world. Sure, even the most user-friendly version, Ubuntu, requires you to admit you're using a computer and get down and dirty with a green and black screen occasionally. And the graphics won't be quite as gee-whizz. But at least my computer will know who's boss.

3 comments from readers

simonw
09 February 2007 at 22:58

For "gee-whizz graphics" on Ubuntu, Google for "Compiz". I think you'll find Ubuntu has gee-whizz well covered, but one needs to choose a PC with a well supported 3D graphics card.

hal1200
20 February 2007 at 14:19

Thanks for making things clear Becky.

gionav
28 February 2007 at 17:31

Hi Becky, as usual, you wrote a very interesting piece. Reading your article, however, i was wondering what is the legal status of DRM? Is it allowed easily or is it exploiting some flaw in the law? I mean one thing is making a £15 DVD difficult to copy, so to speak, but an other thing is to make a £1000 brand new laptop limited in its features, it is like selling an expensive bottle of Remy Martin and then forbid the customer to drink it. Or something like that. Ciao and thanks, Gio

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simonw
09 February 2007 at 22:58: For "gee-whizz graphics" on Ubuntu, Google for "Compiz". I think you'll find Ubuntu has gee-whizz well covered, but one needs to choose a PC with a well supported 3D graphics card.
hal1200
20 February 2007 at 14:19: Thanks for making things clear Becky.
gionav
28 February 2007 at 17:31: Hi Becky, as usual, you wrote a very interesting piece. Reading your article, however, i was wondering what is the legal status of DRM? Is it allowed easily or is it exploiting some flaw in the law? I mean one thing is making a £15 DVD difficult to copy, so to speak, but an other thing is to make a £1000 brand new laptop limited in its features, it is like selling an expensive bottle of Remy Martin and then forbid the customer to drink it. Or something like that. Ciao and thanks, Gio