Microsoft has revealed that it has no control whatsoever over how Windows Vista manages content protection. Dave Marsh, a Lead Program Manager responsible for Windows' handling of video explained that there are no external factors involved in the equation of Vista's digital rights management outside of the applications that deliver the playback.

"The content protection infrastructure in Windows Vista provides a range of à la carte options that allows applications playing back protected content to properly enable the protections required by the policies established for such content by the content owner or service provider. In this way, the PC functions the same as any other consumer electronics device," Marsh said.

Due to the inclusion of the content protection infrastructure, Windows Vista will be able to play protected commercial audiovisual content. Although the DRM integrated in the operating system has been the target of criticism, the truth of the matter is that Windows Vista based machines would not be able to play protected content otherwise.

Marsh added that the policies associated with the protected content must be enforced at the level of playback devices. "Associating usage policies with commercial content is not new to Windows Vista, or to the industry. In fact, much of the functionality discussed in the paper has been part of previous versions of Windows, and hasn't resulted in significant consumer problems - as evidenced by the widespread consumer use of digital media in Windows XP," added Marsh.

Microsoft has built Windows Vista in order to deliver the infrastructure that would support commercial content scenarios. In this context, protected content will impact only superficially other materials on the same machine. The DRM in Vista will be applied only to constrained content, without affecting other activities on the desktops. "The content protection mechanisms do not make Windows Vista PCs less reliable than they would be otherwise -- if anything they will have the opposite effect, for example because they will lead to better driver quality control," Marsh explained.