OCTOBER 2004 MA XIMUMPC 3
ises to protect user data (your
e-mail), corporate data (your
company’s files), and com-
mercial data (digital music you
downloaded from a publisher)
from the hardware level up, giv-
ing only trusted hardware and
software access to such data.
Yeah. Go back and reread
that last sentence. Note that
there’s no mention of a “trusted
user.” This could mean that if
a content provider who you
purchase protected music files
from dictates that your hard-
ware MP3 player isn’t “trusted,”
you won’t be able to play
those files on that MP3 player.
Furthermore, because the DRM
status of your players and files
can be updated whenever you
connect to the Internet, a player
that’s trusted today could
become untrustworthy tomor-
row. And trusted hardware isn’t
limited to MP3 and video play-
ers—it could also include opti-
cal drives and hard drives.
It’s not all doom and gloom,
however. Microsoft has
pledged that Palladium will be
an opt-in system, and that PCs
will ship with Palladium dis-
abled at both the hardware and
software levels.
Without technology likePalladium, it’s unlikely that con-
tent providers will ever allow
high-quality audio and video to
legally reside on your PC. Thus
we foresee Palladium being a
mandatory requirement if you
want to install, say, an HDTV
tuner or DVD-Audio player in
the new version of Windows.The Castle: Home
Networking Taken
to the Next Level
Even if you don’t know it,
there’s a pretty good chance
your office uses roving
Windows profiles. No matter
where you are in your office,
you can sit down at a free
computer, log in, and access
the same Windows Desktop, e-
mail, and installed applications
that you do everywhere else.
Unfortunately, unless you want
to endure the hassle of set-
ting up a Windows server and
domain, there’s no easy way to
replicate this functionality for
home users. This is why we’re
so excited about Longhorn’s
Castle feature—it allows multi-
PC homes all the benefits ofLonghorn also includes context-sensitive popups for many types
of documents! Images, text documents, and even music files have
special, easy-to-read popups that inform you of the files’ contents
without having to open it.Like SpaceMonger on steroids, File System
Visualizer for Linux (available now) gives you
a 3D perspective of your entire hard drive. It’s
a beautiful fly-over at night.Looking Glass is toying with putting
application preferences on the flipside of a
window as displayed here. The result: easy
access and considerably less screen clutter.interface,] prints it out, and a [programmer] has to take
that image and try to make it work,” says Kinney. The
key to bridging the gap between concept and execution
is extensible application markup language (XAML), a
new method of describing GUI creation that will save
programmers from having to hack elegant designs into
rigid, resolution-specifi c code.Re-learning not required
Although the changes will be signifi cant, don’t worry—
the next iteration of your operating system won’t
demand head-mounted displays or radical new fi le
system metaphors. The development of the 3D interface
“isn’t going to turn on a dime,” says Juan Carlos Soto,
director of Sun’s software technology offi ce. Sun’s
Looking Glass, for example, is being developed so all
its features work with a standard two-button mouse
and keyboard. Nor is there any reason to fear a radical
new paradigm in fi le organization. “People think they’re
going to see a [fully] 3D desktop,” says McLaws. “They
expect to have icons stacked deep into infi nity and to
reach out with a hand and grab something off the shelf,
and that’s not necessarily the case.”Continued from page 33ËWINDOWS LONGHORN
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