ViiV (yeah, I have no idea how to pronouce it either) is Intel’s new platform push into the ‘multimedia home’ market. There is considerable rumbling that this is a new spin on the Trusted Computing Platform (TCM) efforts past. One of the nastier aspects of which allowed content providers to tie aspects of the DRM to specific hardware features; think hardward decoders. In the absence of these ‘features’ (and an OS that supports/recognizes/enables them <cough>Windows<cough>) the content is rendered unplayable.

This horrific idea limits content playback to specific hardware (Intel) and software (Microsoft & maybe Apple) vendors and blocks any OEM or open sourced tools entirely through the womb of patent protection.

Openness and standards are what drive inovation. You need look no further than the PC vs. Macintosh situation. IBM made a choice to open the platform and allow third-parties to build hardware that extended their basic platform; Apple choose to lock out all other hardware manufactures. The result is that the PC has a 90% market share and Apple has 10%.

When products and created that lock customers into a specific environment they either find away around it, or go elsewhere.

» DRM: Three dirty letters you won’t hear in a CES keynote | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com