a Bert by any other name....

[____Textpert Alert____ <ianf@xxxxxxxxx>]

  If this isn't a Xanadu[*] Bert, then I don't know what is:

Seattle PI: <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/
109707_drm22.shtml> I imagine Enron would have been
interested in this software:

        "...The software, called Windows Rights
        Management Services, can be used by anyone
        creating an e-mail, Word document, Excel
        Spreadsheet, Adobe PDF or other file. The
        creator can specify which individuals or
        groups in an organization can read, copy,
        print, forward or edit the document.
        Documents can even be given a finite
        lifespan.

        Different individuals or groups can be allowed
        different rights to the same document. Those
        use limits are built into the document and
        remain an unalterable part of it, said
        Microsoft's John Manferdelli, who headed
        the product's development...."
[ found @ http://www.mcarthurweb.com/200302.html#1045918126 ]


  Wonder how it is done in general purpose context, not
  a dedicated environment as would be Xanadu; and then
  especially how it's done in the case of by design uni-
  versally readable email... once so-encoded (=binary) msg
  received along ordinary ones, it has to be recognized
  as such and passed over to a local Windows Rights
  Management server, which will validate it, check the
  identity of recipient, and disclose the contents in
  accordance with the embedded access-profile. Would that
  be done in a manner similar to filtering by procmail?
  But first, that would presume presence of dedicated
  RM-aware mail user agent(s) at the receiving end, which
  in turn defies the spirit of lowest-common-denominator
  text exchange platform, the e-mail.

  In any event, somebody should do ergonomic evaluation of
  the UI of assigning the various permission ranges possible
  with this software (by description not limited to Micro-
  shaft-only applications...). Knowing the ways of the
  parent, I bet it is a bastard....


__Ian

[*] 1990 Xanadu/Server System Overview
    Draft Revision 1.0 B4; June 5, 1990