[Galemp]

Apparently Microsoft is coming up with a new computer chip/OS called Paladium. Here's the press release. Unfortunately it might not be the best thing for us lowly users, says Zebulun E-Zine. That's pretty scary stuff; but what about THIS:

Palladium will effectively ban free software, not just free stuff for Windows platforms, but free stuff for Linux, Mac, in fact every OS that runs on a Palladium enabled motherboard/processor. Why?
In order to get the program to run on a palladium platform, you will need to pay to have your binary certified as "safe" by Microsoft's software authentification branch. And who in their right mind is going to pay for a piece of software they spent hours working on? It just wouldn't be worth it.

It gets worse when it comes to open source projects, such as Linux and BSD. Those of you who know about these things will know that open source projects are created by freelance coders all over the world who create programs in their spare time and then give them to the rest of the world for free. Many of them also release the source code for free too, so that if you wish you can alter the program (such as to fix bugs, add features etc).
Now, it would be bad enough if the owner has to pay a certification fee. But EVERY CHANGE that is made to the source code will require a new, seperate certificate to be created. Those of you who use Linux will know that so many things get updated so quickly, that this just isn't practical, and would cost the open source developement people millions of dollars. This is money they just don't have, and Microsoft knows it.

[an0n]

Old news.

[kode]

and it's never gonna happen anyway.

[wEvil]

an0n, please reply with something a little more useful - we know you know everything allready so you dont have to tell anyone.


In terms of what it means - yep, its bad.  But then again nobody cares about having no rights at all so why even bother talking about it?

[RandomTiger]

XP was meant to be uncrackable and secure.
I think that lasted for all of 5 hours after it was out or something.

And if thats saying that no exe will run unless if certified is total maddness, developers would all just switch to linux I imagine.

[an0n]

*can't find the Squint smiley*
*squints*

Don't worry, as soon as Bush learns how to operate his new V-Tech, Paladium will become a requirement for all US computers.

[an0n]

Originally posted by RandomTiger
XP was meant to be uncrackable and secure.
I think that lasted for all of 5 hours after it was out or something.

Actually, it was cracked about 3 months before it's release.

[RandomTiger]

There you go then

[Fineus]

It'd be the death of MS to try and push this on most people, I mean sure it might not hit to many large businesses but think of the hundreds of thousands of home users who will most likely tell MS to go and hang if they ever found out about it. All those of us who have tabs on this kind of thing have to do is make the masses aware of it and incite it as the new form of evil and hopefully they'll realise they don't want it and everyone will tell MS where to go.

If it ever happens, that is.

[Tiara]

Even if its gonna happen it will be cracked in no time as usual....

[Stryke 9]

Has it occurred to anyone yet that this would not be the only product on the market? Anyone who knew anything about computers simply wouldn't buy it. There are plenty of morons who would, but then again, if you're using a computer set up by a moron, you take your chances in the first place.

And yes, it'd get cracked instantly, just for fun. Just like XP, which most real warez rings thought was for ****- you could get a beta of it for free well before any final version even came along.

[Cannikin]

EDIT: Oops

[01010]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
Has it occurred to anyone yet that this would not be the only product on the market? Anyone who knew anything about computers simply wouldn't buy it. There are plenty of morons who would, but then again, if you're using a computer set up by a moron, you take your chances in the first place.

And yes, it'd get cracked instantly, just for fun. Just like XP, which most real warez rings thought was for ****- you could get a beta of it for free well before any final version even came along.

From what i've read on Palladium I think it wouldn't quite be as simple as cracking it. As far as I recall MS were working with AMD to make kinda hardware dongles on the CPU (eventually being intergrated into the CPU) which authenticates pretty much everything and has keys or some sort of ****. You can disable that but it completely restricts anything else you can do.


::rummages::

A-HA


Palladium

[wEvil]

yep, but longhorn wont debut for quite some time yet.

palladium is a standards group (like JEDEC which is the standards group for SDRAM) except palladium are a bunch of closed-minded fascists.

most major manufacturers have been pinched into joining it.

If you remember the T.14 standard for hard drives that got pushed out (luckily) and also the mount rainier standard for new CD/DVD drives - its kindof the same thing.

[phreak]

that and palladium cpus won't be allowed to "talk" to non-palladium cpus

[Stryke 9]

You know, this won't just be a problem for users. Nobody's gonna want to pay Microsoft to let their products run on the Microsoft OS, and certainly won't want to have to suck up to Microsoft and let the company change their products just to get it sold- particularly since they KNOW that Windows is nothing without their software. Gates gets too pushy, companies like Adobe and Macromedia might start servicing Microsoft's cometitors more, and that's the end of the Evil Empire. I don't think Gates is quite THAT stupid.

[Fineus]

Is Gates really in charge though? I mean the last I heard he owned the company but was less in the decision making progress than before?

Probably wrong though.

[Stryke 9]

Does it really matter? It's like the President: the answer's pretty much no, but he makes a good metaphor for the top echelon and it really doesn't make a difference unless you're planning to make everything better by assassinating the bastard.

[Cannikin]

Gates gave up the position of CEO back in 1999 I think. He still holds the title of Chairman though and still earns more than the current CEO

[Top Gun]

This Guy is CEO now.