Many people I know jump up and down, listening to the bandwagon of anti-Microsoft advocates talk (or is that whine and moan?) about the “DRM” issues in Vista.

Let me clarify one point right now: I was involved in beta testing Windows Vista for about two years. I have installed, and have been running Windows Vista, since January 30, 2007. Early adopter? Yep. Do I like Vista? Yes, but at times, just like any other operating system, including the International Space Station’s, it can be a pain in the ass. Nothing in the world is flawless.

That said, I am not an advocate of, nor am I am representative of Microsoft or any publicity arm or hired gun for Microsoft. I am, however, a longtime consumer of Microsoft products, including operating systems, Office products, accessories (my keyboard, for one), and various other pieces of software (OnFolio, Windows Live Writer, etc., as immediate examples). While I owned a Mac, back in the early-to-mid 1990’s, I have Microsoft Word and Excel installed, and was even certified as a trainer (I believe that was the title back then). This was a time when MS-DOS and the early version of Windows (through Windows 3.1) were released. When Windows 95 was released, I purchased another PC, and then had a Mac and a PC on my old desk. Back then, mind you, you had to have the literal “desktop” computer on the desktop. Think of a mid-size tower, laying on its side, on your desk. That’s what we used back then. The monitor sat atop the case. Charming, huh? Not really, but we ran on 32 megs of RAM. Today, in my PC, I have 4 gigs of RAM, and some days, I think about slapping another 4 gigs in the beast. What happened to the old days, when having 128 megs of RAM meant you were running at sonic speed?

Anyway, as I said, I am really tiring of the talk, nay, the garble, about “DRM” garbage when the Vista is the topic.

“I’ll never get Vista,” one person in the crowd moans. “There is so much you can’t do because of the DRM restrictions.”

Sure, DRM — digital rights management — is enabled, to a slight degree, in Vista. It is also enabled, to some degree, in Windows XP, and probably in Windows 2000, as well, but I would really have to test that out. I have a Windows 2000 machine, as well as my laptop with Windows XP Pro, but I don’t play with much that isn’t legal. I buy my CDs, rip them, use them on my computer, and slap the actual CD in my CD player in my SUV. I make a backup for safekeeping, so there. I have my legal backup copy, and my ripped tracks. In fact, I don’t even have all the ripped tracks. I keep only the ones I really like and dump the rest with a secure wiping tool called PGP.

While checking out his site this evening, I see [1] Jason hit the Vista DRM nail squarely on the head. Be sure to check it out, and when you do, let me know your thoughts on the matter.