Microsoft will actively encourage rival software suppliers and the
open source community to incorporate its controversial Palladium
security technology into their products, as it attempts to create a
groundswell of support for the next generation of operating
systems.
In an interview with Computer Weekly, Stuart Okin, Microsoft's UK
chief security officer, said it was in Microsoft's interests to
make the licensing of Palladium as attractive as possible to
competitors and to offer them favourable licensing terms.
His comments follow fears that Palladium, a technology which will
allow software and content suppliers to electronically enforce
copyright of documents and files, will effectively tie end-users
into Microsoft systems and boost its position as a monopoly
supplier.
But Okin insisted that Microsoft would encourage rival firms and
open source companies to take up the Palladium technology.
"If we are going to have a trusted relationship between
organisations that run Microsoft and organisations that run open
source, it is in the interests of all of us [to license Palladium].
Otherwise the technology will not get adopted. We will not be
moving forward," he said.
The company is planning a major communications exercise to persuade
IT directors of the advantages of Palladium for improving online
security and privacy.
Next week, John Manfredelli, general manager of Microsoft's
Palladium unit, will answer criticism of the project at a
conference of IT directors organised by supporters of the open
source movement. He is also expected to meet privately with leading
critics of the system, Okin revealed.
Palladium has already won backing from some prominent members of
the open source community. Eadie Bleasdale, consultant at
Netproject, which is organising next week's conference, said that
although there are genuine concerns about Palladium it can offer
end-users significant advantages.
"Unless we have secure end-to-end computing, we have no right to
move to distributed computing. Palladium now gives us the basis of
saying we have secure end-to-end computing," he said.
However, analysts believe Microsoft will face an uphill struggle to
win the trust of its customers. "This is much more a political and
philosophical battle than a technology battle. The biggest issue
facing Microsoft is persuading people to trust not Palladium but
Microsoft," said Tony Lock, an analyst at Bloor Research.
Lock believes that attempts by Microsoft to win over the open
source community are bound to fail. "Getting the Linux community to
pay for open source is extremely unlikely, particularly if the
supplier is Microsoft. If Palladium becomes supplier-independent,
run by an independent body, then the idea might have currency."