Elimination of Open-source Hardware Support

In order to prevent the creation of hardware emulators of protected output devices, Vista requires a Hardware Functionality Scan (HFS) that can be used to uniquely fingerprint a hardware device to ensure that it's (probably) genuine. In order to do this, the driver on the host PC performs an operation in the hardware (for example rendering 3D content in a graphics card) that produces a result that's unique to that device type.

In order for this to work, the spec requires that the operational details of the device be kept confidential. Obviously anyone who knows enough about the workings of a device to operate it and to write a third-party driver for it (for example one for an open-source OS, or in general just any non-Windows OS) will also know enough to fake the HFS process. The only way to protect the HFS process therefore is to not release any technical details on the device beyond a minimum required for web site reviews and comparison with other products.

Open source operating systems do have significant weaknesses here, because they do not play by the same rules as the closed source world does. Try playing an unprotected divx stream (an old encoding standard, which has been around since 1998) on a clean Fedora Core6 install. It won't work. But it takes seconds to shoehorn Xine in, in place of Gstreamer, even if it's of questionable legality because of the codebase Xine derives from. Do you think that stops people in the Open Source universe?

Open source hardware support only matters in the open source universe. In the case of premium content and its protection, this is a non issue at least for now. Open source operating systems aren't going to support the licensed (i.e. they cost money) protection mechanisms in the first place. It sort of blows a big fat hole in the "free" aspect of it all. How will it be supported then? I'm sure it will be the same way we're somehow magically and quasi illegally playing content types that violate GPL and skirt copyright on our linux systems already (DeCSS or ffmpeg anyone?). The two major graphics card manufacturers are committed to continued support for open source operating systems, albeit with their own closed source drivers. As long as the end users hardware works, the end user won't care. And let's be honest, anyone who's dedicated themselves to open source alternatives for their daily desktops could care less about Vista or support, or actually playing mainstream games, or building a Home Theater System. Oh wait, we're straying from the whole Vista thing again aren't we? Or do people commonly write open source drivers for Microsoft OS's??? Let me know if you ever find someone doing this. The only obvious example of this we are aware of is the "3dfx Italia" project which is still creating 32bit and 64bit drivers for ancient 3dfx hardware in Windows XP.

This potential "closing" of the PC's historically open platform is an extremely worrying trend. A quarter of a century ago, IBM made the momentous decision to make their PC an open platform by publishing complete hardware details and allowing anyone to compete on the open market. Many small companies, the traditional garage startup, got their start through this. This openness is what created the PC industry, and the reason why most homes (rather than just a few offices, as had been the case until then) have one or more PCs sitting in a corner somewhere. This seems to be a return to the bad old days of 25 years ago when only privileged insiders were able to participate.

This is merely endemic of an industry in a serious state of flux, and running scared over the ramifications of p2p and piracy. Admittedly it's sort of like trying to plug a hole in the Hoover Dam with a cotton swab.  Keep in mind that this potential "closing" of the PC resulted in HDDVD and BlueRay protections being bypassed within weeks of Vista's official retail launch. More to the point, these protections can be bypassed on Vista machines.