Found this via Slashdot:
A Brave New Modular World - Another MS Patent Application
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2007012808444146
It's rather long and there is a ton of commentary in response, so I didn't paste it in here. In summary, M$ applied for a new patent that adds digital rights management (e.g. lock and key) to system modules, which could provide a them way of a locking down the operating system to a point where you have to pay for functionality you now take for granted. For example, it could be used to prevent you from using a DVD drive, or only let you run two applications at the same time, or restrict your bandwidth to a low speed even when you're paying your ISP for high speed, or forbid the operation of open-source applications. Or they could possibly use it to only allow access to certains aspects of the Internet and combine it with legislation that requires licensing of Internet use (can't have t'rrists surfing the net and inciting violence, and we can't have citizens looking at that stuff - they could wind up like the folks in Boston did this week) and so on.
A Brave New Modular World - Another MS Patent Application
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2007012808444146
It's rather long and there is a ton of commentary in response, so I didn't paste it in here. In summary, M$ applied for a new patent that adds digital rights management (e.g. lock and key) to system modules, which could provide a them way of a locking down the operating system to a point where you have to pay for functionality you now take for granted. For example, it could be used to prevent you from using a DVD drive, or only let you run two applications at the same time, or restrict your bandwidth to a low speed even when you're paying your ISP for high speed, or forbid the operation of open-source applications. Or they could possibly use it to only allow access to certains aspects of the Internet and combine it with legislation that requires licensing of Internet use (can't have t'rrists surfing the net and inciting violence, and we can't have citizens looking at that stuff - they could wind up like the folks in Boston did this week) and so on.