RajB

When we did a listening tour last year, to meet with hundreds of software vendors, what we heard (at the risk of over-simplification, perhaps) is that there are two fundamental challenges faced by software vendors today: 1. Distribution (how do I get my apps in the hands of consumers?) and 2. Activation (how do I ensure that I have appropriate safeguards in place vis-a-vis copy protection, piracy, etc.).

One of the questions we asked ISVs during our listening tour was how they would prioritize these two asks and if we had a solution for one of them, would it be useful to have it in the market today?

The clear answer that we seemed to hear was that #1 - distribution/access to customers on the Windows platform - was the "need it here and now" ask.

Therefore, in our current release of Windows Marketplace, we have scoped our problem space as helping meet the distribution challenge for software vendors.

The copy protection for each of the applications featured on Windows Marketplace is determined by the vendor.  Windows Marketplace/ Digita Locker does not impose a standard copy protection policy for the download applications featured on Windows Marketplace.