Gates launched Windows Vista at the British Library on Tuesday, unveiling the online da Vinci codexes as part of the library's "Turning the Pages" project. Naturally it all works better with Vista because, being Microsoft, they've made sure it only works for those running Internet Explorer on Windows Vista or XP SP2 with .NET Framework 3.0. A limited Shockwave version is available to everyone else.

Turning the Pages allows users to magnify, zoom and rotate pages. You can also read or listen to expert commentary on each page, and store or share your own notes. Considering Microsoft's obsession with intellectual and digital right management, it is uncertain under what license the codexes have been made available as Da Vinci's lawyers did not return IT Wire's emails.{moscomment}

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