In addition, Microsoft commented publicly for the first time Friday on proposed server-based DRM services to be layered onto Windows Server 2003. These services, code-named Tungsten, will work with applications "to provide a platform-based approach to providing persistant policy rights for Web content and sensitive corporate documents of all types," according to a statement.

New "Information Rights Management" outlined in Office 2003 beta documentation is a "persistent file-level technology that lets the user specify permission for who can access and use documents or e-mail messages."

CRN first reported on these upcoming Office-resident controls last December (see story.)

Company insiders said the upcoming suite would let users designate whether a document could be printed or forwarded or set up to self-destruct by a certain date. At the time, solution providers said controls are necessary in a day of increased federal regulation over certain transactions and communications within publicly traded companies.

Solution providers have said that such capabilities would help them set up controls and processes for customers, and even conduct their own contract negotiation processes. But Microsoft sources said the road to DRM is a minefield of potential fair-use and other issues. The firestorm over Napster and file-sharing services shows how explosive this issue can be.

This Information Rights Management functionality will also cover messages created and sent with Outlook 2003 so users could prevent recipients from forwarding, printing or copying sensitive mail, according to the Microsoft documentation. Such forwarding and copying controls already exist at a server level in Lotus Domino and other mail applications.

Use of these DRM features requires Windows 2003 Server, and a premium client access for IRM. In addition, documents with controls can only be opened by users with Office 2003, according to the beta documentation posting.

CRN first reported on Tungsten last year. (See story.)