Posted on 02/23/2003 7:08:02 PM PST by gaucho
Here's yet another reason to be glad we don't use a Microsoft OS. The Trusted Computing Platform Alliance, headed by Microsoft & Intel, provides both hardware and software standards that will allow only licensed operating systems to run on a machine. This means unlicensed operating systems such as Linx can no longer even be installed on a TCPA-compliant system.
In a not so distant future (2004) the TCPA hardware will take charge, when you turn on your PC. This onboard chipset checks the integrity of your boot ROM, executes it and measures the state of the machine. After that, it checks the booting process of your operating system. If the chipset detects a TCPA-compliant OS it will load and execute it. Furthermore, the chipset maintains a list of your hardware (means: soundcard, videocard etc.) and checks them for TCPA-compliance, too. So, let's assume, Fritz (remember? the name of the chipset) detects, that all the stuff in your PC is on the TCPA-approved list, it will be finally happy and boot your system to the login screen. Be careful: If there are significant hardware changes, you will have to go online and re-certify your machine (like XP does).
After the booting process, Fritz hands over the control to the software part of TCPA: Palladium.
This piece of Operating-System-Integrated software is going to determine what you are allowed to do with "your" PC. Let's say: What you are not allowed to do with. Before you can start an application or open a document, it checks wether it thinks you are allowed to or not. No, that's no joke. It really does. Via the Internet, Palladium keeps an up-to-date list of software (the blacklist), you can't start. One can imagine what's on that list. e.g: every kind of cracking / hacking software, illegal copies and so on. Sounds like Microsoft installed a DRM via the backdoor? And that's not even all it is. Every PC with a Fritz chip has an unique ID. Only the software you bought for THIS ID (means: your PC) would be able to run. There's not even the chance to sell software you don't use anymore. Palladium / Fritz won't allow it to run on ANY other machine. There's also a blacklist for documents. Imagine: You're not able to play one of your thousand MP3's anymore, because they don't have a valid certificate, even though the original CD sits in your rack. Not one of your Movies. You also gave Microsoft the permission to delete all the files, once it has found them. You don't believe me? Read the last EULA of your Media Player.
For more information, visit http://www.notcpa.org/.
If you're technically inclined and can read specifications check out the offical TCPA-FAQ for yourself.
Mac is good PC is evil!!
Everytime I turn around, mac people are giving Steve jobs credit for inventing something he didn't invent.
Steve Jobs is credited by most mac users with creating the GUI. A widely known fact is that Xerox created the GUI.
Now listen to Mac people... Oh ITunes (Macs own digital music personal recorder) is now the latest thing that Mac has and is given credit for creating. It has been around for 5 years at least. RIO was one of the earlier products.
I am not a Mac basher. I have both a Mac and a PC and there are different things that each does better than the other. The problem is, those gaps are narrowing and at this point PC's are a cheaper solution and have much more software available for them. The products that Apple makes(Airport, Itunes Player, etc either only work with Macs or at a minimum require a Mac to setup(in the case of the airport, a great wireless access point but unfortuantely require a mac to configure.).
If Mac could get their head's out of the sand long enough to acknowledge that there is a large market that would buy some of their proucts if they would make them compatible, they might do better than they are(and yes, I know they are doing better).
Why don't you all go off and do something nice for a change, like maybe writing some of that famous Volgon poetry that brings such joy to the universe?
Why's that? I just bought a laptop with Windows XP Pro on it. What's the skinny on XP? I recall some controversy when XP came out, but being a Mac person I soon forgot about all of it. Now that I actually have this XP thing in my home I'd like to know more about it. Do you have a link with some details?
tia!
As you learn the system you will find some things that it does that you can turn off, if you have privacy concerns. Xp has online fault reporting and on line remote access for MS techies. I turned mine off and never used it.
Get zone alarm if you want to know exactly what it is doing and make zone control the internet. I do and I am quite sure nothing goes on that I do not authorize. I think people who hate Gates are trying to get people to believe that XP is somehow unsafe.
I was one of the first to get it and saw the de-bug process. The OS, (while complicated) is good, and it works. I had some complaints early on, but they have all been addressed via patches. It has worked fine for months now.
Hang on a sec and I'll do some checking to see if I can point you to the program that you use to access the processes.
One place is accessed from "My computer". You go to system info on the top left of the screen. You can turn off remote assistance and sharing there.
The next place is through the "Control Panel". You go to administrative tools. You go to processes and a number of other screens that will tell you what windows apps are running and what their current boot status is. If you know what you don't want, you can disable, pause, and enable anything you want. Be care full here. Write down any changes you make so that if you disable something that another prog in dependent on, you can reverse what you did.
Read the security stuff about XP on various sites. I personally like some of the sites like Tech TV and ZD Net. They have some walk through on how and what to turn off.
CNTRL/ALT/DEL will bring up the screen to give you a real time look at everything that is running. I use it to spot processes that are running that I was not aware of. I look at it often to spot data miners and worm bugs.
This OS is complicated so don't change anything without researching the dependent applications. Most of the changes I made were done months ago and I don't recall what they were. There were two that I recall and involved remote assistance apps. When XP first came out, you had to dig deep to get at this stuff. The fixes/patches and other upgrades since have made it easier.
No kidding! How long before Gates signs with the AMA to simply imbed the chip in our brain?
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