Windows 8 is the next version of Microsoft’s all-encompassing operating system that will effectively define the future of the personal computer. That includes gaming on PC. This wouldn’t be so bad, except that Microsoft happens to be in the computer gaming business, and word on the street is that Windows 8 will be designed with a built-in online store hooked directly to the scented prey-attracting orifices of the company’s game division. Which wouldn’t be so bad, either, except for the DRM that refuses to run any games which don’t have Microsoft’s say-so. This would effectively lock out all games on the PC unless their makers kiss Microsoft’s ring. First Valve, then Blizzard, and now Minecraft’s Notch have expressed their opinion on the matter, and it’s not a happy one. Game Politics has the story.
What happens when your competitor makes the infrastructure your products need to work? What happens when that competitor decides to lock you, and everyone else, out of that infrastructure?
What if that locked infrastructure is the only game in town?
If Microsoft goes through with this plan, it’ll make the “embedded browser monopoly” lawsuits look like a parking ticket.