The Trusted Computing features in Windows Vista could lock firms into using Microsoft Office for years to come, warns Cory Doctorow, a key contributor and fellow of the charitable campaign group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

In an exclusive interview with IT Week, Doctorow said the Trusted Computing digital rights management (DRM) technology built into the forthcoming Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 12 products would mean documents could only be used by other people who also have these or later versions of Microsoft products, or third-party products for which Microsoft has authorised compatibility. Such documents could not be used with open-source technologies such as Open Office, nor could they necessarily be indexed by third-party commercial systems such as document management software.

In a speech at the Red Hat Summit in Nashville last week, Doctorow said DRM was ineffective at protecting copyright material. He said a recent survey showed music protected by DRM was typically hacked and made available online without DRM protection within three minutes of the DRM version being published. Instead, he argued, DRM was actually designed to help vendors find new revenue streams from law-abiding customers. "For example, DRM combined with legislation such as the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] lets Apple sue firms that make [iPod-compatible devices]," he said.

While most IT managers would not be worried by this, they should be concerned that DRM technologies built into Windows Vista and Office 12 could determine whether or not users could access documents without first buying Microsoft-sanctioned products. Doctorow said the problem is not confined to the US because other countries around the world have laws similar to the DCMA.