In order to help create a unified standard in digital media, Sun is releasing its digital rights management (DRM) project under an open-source license. The DReaM Project will be set up under the Common Development and Distribution Licence (CDDL) as the foundation for the Open Media Commons, and will facilitate digital content creators to get paid no matter what device a consumer is using. This is becoming a concern as more and more devices become capable of handling digital content, and DRM needs to work across all digital devices, all formats and all business models in order to stop becoming a complete and utter disaster.

"We're clearly coming into a world where devices will no longer be built for their functionality; they will be built for their form," Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president, said. "We have to have a solution that contemplates diversity. It cannot contemplate a single device, a single format, a single protocol."

A royalty-free version of DRM should be available as more people creating their own blogs or podcasts become content creators, he added. People outside large media organisations are creating compelling content and should have a way to protect it if they choose to, Schwartz said.