Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and other Microsoft executives will pen a newsletter on the company's views about the role of technology and public policy. [CNET News.com]

This story concerns the first "Executive E-Mail" newsletter. The first issue talks about the Trustworthy Computing initiative which Bill Gates announced six months ago. Here's the Microsoft pitch about Trustworthy Computing:

Trustworthy Computing has four pillars: reliability, security, privacy and business integrity. "Reliability" means that a computer system is dependable, is available when needed, and performs as expected and at appropriate levels. "Security" means that a system is resilient to attack, and that the confidentiality, integrity and availability of both the system and its data are protected. "Privacy" means that individuals have the ability to control data about themselves and that those using such data faithfully adhere to fair information principles. "Business Integrity" is about companies in our industry being responsible to customers and helping them find appropriate solutions for their business issues, addressing problems with products or services, and being open in interactions with customers.

The question is how this new design framework will impact digital preservation requirements when it comes to Microsoft products. If you are running an electronic records archives and receive Microsoft data designed under the trustworthy computing protocols, will you be able to migrate the data without access to a Microsoft authentication server or other security measures? If you can migrate the data without access to Microsoft technology, does this render the data less trustworthy, less authentic?

Perhaps in a future Executive E-Mail Mr. Gates or another manager might address the company's policy on digital preservation.