One Newly Asked Question (below) is "Would Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates have written Thoughts on Music?" And the answer is, pretty obviously, no. Steve Jobs may have a cult following but I've heard Gates say more than once: "we're only plumbers". In other words, Microsoft's job is to provide the infrastructure support that enables its partners to do what they need to do to make money (which is how Microsoft makes money). Quite often that means "protect bits".
There's a good interview at Gizmodo where Gates is asked if he thinks DRM is "helping people protect their money" eg in the record industry. He replies: "That's what they think."
Gizmodo: That's what the artists think, you're saying?
Gates: Yes. There are artists who want the software to remind people of rights boundaries. Are those authors wrong or right? That's up to them. We don't take a position on that. What we want is to have as much content as possible available. And available in the most convenient, easy-to-use form.
So Microsoft's job is to make content available, while enabling rights holders (not Microsoft) to control the terms on which their content is made available. Gates says later:
We have your interests totally in mind, but that includes having... if there's content that can only be there if it's rights protected, we want to be able to have that content available to you. And so all we're doing... in no sense are we hurting you, because if they're willing to make the content available openly, believe me, that's always the most wonderful thing. It's the simplest.
Gates also points out that the issue is not really about music. What about "like if there's a medical record that has somebody's AIDS status in it," should that be protected or should it be available to everyone? Gates claims: "It's not different. It's identical technology. It's the same bits!"
The DRM we put into these systems is used to protect medical records, and it's used to protect things people want to protect. And so it's hard for me to say, 'No, because it might be used for media for a way in some people don't like, I won't put it in there for medical records.' This is a platform that people can use in any way that they choose.
So, for example, if Sony requires HDCP to protect Blu-ray movies, Microsoft has a choice: it can support HDCP and enable users to play Blu-ray movies, or refuse to put it in, so users cannot (legally) play Blu-ray movies. (Apple obviously has the same options -- which is presumably why Apple is strangely quiet about adding HDCP support to OS X, even though it's been on the Blu-ray board for ages.)
Now, that doesn't mean either Gates or Microsoft supports Sony's decisions on Blu-ray: in fact, Microsoft opposed them, and campaigned for "managed copy" and other features. (Clearly it is in Microsoft's best interests for users to be able to play a Blu-ray movie on a PC and watch it on a TV via an Xbox 360, for example.) But in the end it boils down to: Do we provide the plumbing or not? Microsoft's view is that that's its job.
When it comes down to Gates's personal views, he clearly doesn't think DRM, as currently implemented in the music industry, is good for users. His advice, in an interview with bloggers, was "People should just buy a CD and rip it." (That's my advice too, and I gave it before Bill did.)
