Security people have been suggesting that Microsoft do something like this for a long time. I think it could be a good thing, particularly when it comes to virus defense. Jon Callas, director of engineering at Counterpane Internet Security, is not so confident. Then, all of the sudden, it's preventing work from getting done, and it gets turned off. My guess is that it won't last more than a few months in most shops.
Callas also is concerned about the impact of the new feature on software developers.
At worst, they are going to have to get Microsoft's official seal of approval, which could be a huge problem for software directly competing with Microsoft apps. This could be a whole, new antitrust issue. Smith concedes that tight control over the signing process could be a problem. Something that looked like the driver signing process, though, could be different story. That could be a real mess.