Microsoft's next version of Windows is called Vista. It will feature many new improvements but the one I'm interested in is called Protected Video Path - Output Protection Management (PVP-OPM). This essentially forces a check to make sure that users have a monitor that supports HDCP. See this article here (). If it doesn't then it will play back your HD content in a degraded format if at all. Not a huge deal but it will certainly drive up the costs associated with playing this stuff back since the cable alone could costs hundreds of dollars.
http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/167101037
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25124
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050803/151221_F.shtml