HDMI & HDCP what can we expect?

They already do support audio pass-through for HDMI as well as HDCP DVI;
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/972/

And HDMI will not completely replace DVI as most people still use DVI primarily for DVI to DVI connection.

The new display port will be the next step in standardization, HDMI for PCs is sort of an intermediate stop on the way to the new standard;
http://www.vesa.org/press/displayportaug.htm

Thanks for the info. Is the VESA group the same group to have the old VESA local bus slot named after it?

Yep, they're the ones who make the standards for computers, it's really a group of companies, like Intel, ATi, nVidia, et al.