What's the future of Enterprise DRM vendors such as Authentica, IntraWare, Liquid Machines, SealedMedia, to name a few? What strategies can companies like these employ to ensure not only that they survive, but thrive, especially when the need for Enterprise DRM-enabled applications is so great?
Why do these questions arise at all? Consider the following:
- Microsoft continues to DRM-enable it's major enterprise platforms.
- The Linux community hates DRM;
- it's oh so not Open Source and
- there is a growing body of DRM-related patents that are being licensed, but the Open Source community hates software patents as well.
- SUN Microsystems
- Sun has apparently made peace with DRM, but Sun appears to be moving away from its proprietary version of Unix toward Open Source. How far it will move is another matter.
Where can Enterprise DRM vendors go? There are only three directions: Up, Down, and Sideways.
More in another posting.
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