It was inevitable. Ars Technica covered it back in 2005. Apple has started to implement High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) in its products, something necessary for the viewing of DVDs and other hidef content that has been locked down by producers. The new MacBook Pro's seems to be the first place this is cropping up. Of course, users are not happy.

You might remember that MS got slammed for including HDPC in Vista, with arguments that it was extra code that would only make the system unstable, etc [deeper analysis]. Now, no one talks about it, and folks (at least those that have invested in the proper hardware) happily watch their HD content with no hassles.

So for Apple, this too shall pass. Mac users are just getting to the party a bit late.

Update: Boing Boing post on the subject