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/.
Careful - sometimes it's hard to hide ignorance...
Let's just go off of commony referred to sales/market share info - The Macintosh platform is estimated to have a current market share of the Personal Computer market of between 3 and 5%. Based on the low number of 3% - how many personal computers are sold, on average each year? The information I have found is around 50 million.
That would indicate that 1.5 million NEW Mac Platform computers are purchased each year in the US. Add to this the fact that The PowerMacintosh platform averages twice useable life span of Windows PC's and we begin to see that, although as a percentage, we Mac users are a minority, we still represent a rather large market.
So, I don't think that "almost nobody uses" is an accurate description.
If you would like further data, I will be more than happy to provide it.
Ad Aware took care of the little SOBs. The problems are not related.
What that problem sound like to me is one of two things. The first is that an anti virus program is stopping a write to the boot sector and registry. Always turn all that stuff off when installing a update.
The second could be your motherboard BIOS. XP requires that the BIOS be compatible. All motherboard makers have written new BIOS language to update their products. Settings in the BIOS can also affect this, but I would recommend that you find out who made the board and get the newest flash download and save it to a floppy.
If the p'uter came preloaded with XP, then this problem is less likely.
If all else fails, there is always tech support, but I have seen this before in upgrades.
Regedit is another tool. There are many other options, however I assume you are talking about the big SP-1(or whatever) update. This is something you really need and you need to solve the mystery or do a re-format and re-install. Make sure the BIOS is up to date first.
I just learned how to cut & paste JUST NOW as I'm typing this post. I found out that you have to do everything from the toolbar. You highlight the text, select 'edit copy' from up at the tool bar, then click the reply box, then select 'edit paste' from the tool bar again. It's a whole different process.
You can change fonts, but it's very tedious because the box closes out after each test. The one thing that looks like it's a fixed size is the text on the toolbars. I don't know why they made it so tiny, as there's a lot of room where they could have made it bigger.
Yes, ebay or something, I haven't decided yet. But the worst part is the tiny print. I can hardly see what I'm typing. This iMAC is just not working for me.
And I think most people are confused about whether "TCPA" == "Palladium"... it doesn't, of course, Palladium is Microsoft's software implementation which will run on the TCPA hardware, so whatever Evil that happens due to Palladium (or whatever it will be called) can be attributed solely to Microsoft.
TCPA is the hardware model... and is not, in and of itself, Evil. I'd love to get my hands on one. IBM is building TCPA hardware and has Linux running on it with an Open Source device driver.
TCPA provides 3 main facilities:
Because key management is essential for encryption (you don't want to take a chance of letting a private key out, or losing any keys), if you lose a key, you'll lose the data.
And all of that encryption happens on a crypto chip so it doesn't slow down your main processor.
To make sure your OS isn't compromised by rougue code.
To make sure your system and data remain in a "stable" configuration.
TCPA is not about Digital Rights Management, but it does provide capabilities for the OS to implement it.... so watch out for the software. Criticize DRM all you want, but I think TCPA will actually be helpful.
Do you have a set of non-responsive answers set in keyboard macros somewhere?
I just learned how to cut & paste JUST NOW as I'm typing this post. I found out that you have to do everything from the toolbar. You highlight the text, select 'edit copy' from up at the tool bar, then click the reply box, then select 'edit paste' from the tool bar again. It's a whole different process.
Look down next to the space bar. You'll see a little key with a flower-like symbol on it. That's the "command" key. Select some text. Type "command-C" to "copy". Now click on the window where you wnat to past and try "command-V" to "paste". And "command-X" should "cut". This works in most Macintosh applications. Of course the Mac was primarily designed to use the mouse. In many places where the PC would use the control key for key commands, the Mac uses the command key.
You can change fonts, but it's very tedious because the box closes out after each test. The one thing that looks like it's a fixed size is the text on the toolbars. I don't know why they made it so tiny, as there's a lot of room where they could have made it bigger.
What application are you using?
Yes, ebay or something, I haven't decided yet. But the worst part is the tiny print. I can hardly see what I'm typing. This iMAC is just not working for me.
I've never seen tiny print be a problem. If the whole screen is too small for you, you might want to try changing the resolution monitor to a larger size.
Overall, if you want a computer that works exactly like a PC, the Mac is a poor choice because it isn't a PC. And I can assure you that there are many Mac users that complain that PCs don't work like Macs.
Some of your complaints sound like problems. Some of them sound like, "This doesn't work like a PC does." Well, no. The Mac is a little different. And many Mac users have the same experience when using PCs. If you can't get used to it, then you should investigate a PC.
Please do yourself a big favor and don't buy an iMAC with OS X. If you're used to a PC, you won't be able to make the transition. It's just too radical. It's a nightmare. I'm totally stressed out.
Lots of people make the transition -- both ways. And to Linux, too. Being stressed out isn't going to help you. Reading some help files and manuals might.
You can't SEE anything. The print on the toolbars is microscopic. You can't change the size of the text on the toolbars. You're stuck with what's there. You can't enlarge the scrollbars.
If the screen, overall, is too small for your, try changing the monitor resolution. Let me know if you need help doing this. If you have an older CRT iMac, this shouldn't be a problem. If you have a newer flat-panel display iMac, the resolution change may not be as sharp.
If you need to change just the toolbar text, try looking under "System Preferences" under the "apple" menu (the menu on the far upper left). There should be ways to change the appearance, fonts, and other things.
There's also no inner stuff like on Windows. No seeing the C drive and all of its contents. Virtually everything on the computer is hidden. Inaccessible.
Not at all. How are you trying to access the contents? If you need to go up to the desktop when you open or save a file, slide the scroll bar on the bottom of the file list (the one that goes left and right) to the left and you will "move up" on the disk. Yes, some of the Unix-like part of the system are hidden. If you know how to use Unix-like systems, you can get to that. If you don't, then you shouldn't be messing with those files anyway.
You can't delete anything. If you make a mistake when you first sign on as a user, then try to delete it, forget it. Your deleted folder stays there forever.
I'm not sure what you are complaining about here.
The stupid "dock". It pops up when you least expect it. If you have it hidden, it will still pop up unexpectedly if you accidently move the cursor over its hiding place. And you can't open Internet Explorer from the toolbar. You have to go to the dock.
The dock's the doc. It isn't perfect but I find it about as useful as the Windows alternative. Personally, I leave mine there all the time, like I do in Windows (when the Windows task bar pops up, it has the same problem for me that the Mac has for you).
The second complaint is valid. Apple removed that functionality from the Mac OS between 9.2 and X. You can get two pieces of (fairly cheap) shareware that will (A) let you put applications under the Apple menu (like the Windows Start menu) and (B) give you an application list that will always appear in the upper right. Let me know if you are really interested. I think you can try both out to see if you like them.
You can't delete your cookies in a batch. You have to delete them manually one-by-one. I'm serious. What a pain.
How would you normally do this in Windows and what are you doing on the Mac?
The mouse it comes with doesn't have a right side or a left side; it's all one piece. So you can't right-click anything. This means you can't save images, or copy text, or do anything.
If you really want a two-button mouse, you can buy one. And the right button will magically do what you expect it to do in some programs. They cost less than $20. For historical reasons, the Mac has always had a one button mouse. If you don't want to spend more money, hold down the "control" (not the flower-like command) key while pressing the mouse button and you'll get the "right-click" menu that you are looking for.
You can't keep the screen full-size. It cuts off an 1/8 of an inch on the right side, and on the bottom. You can resize it, but it will always revert back.
I'm not sure exactly what you are complaining about here.
And again, everything is tiny tiny tiny. Microscopic.
You should be able to adjust this. Several ways.
The computer is just a big expensive dud. It does nothing that I'm used to. I'm already thinking about selling it, and I've only had it up a day or two.
If you wanted a PC, you probably did make a mistake. The Mac isn't a PC. PCs are often a bad experience for Mac users, too. It's all a matter of what you are used to. But just as Mac users can usually do OK on a PC, you should be able to do OK on a Mac once you get used to it. If you don't think you can get used to it, selling it is probably your best option. Oh, and I forgot to mention the LOUD GONG that starts the log-in. No way of getting rid of that sound. Someone on the apple website asked about that, too, and there was no solution.
Hmmm. Not sure why it's a problem. I can't say I've tried to change it but I can look into it. Frankly, I just don't turn my Mac off all that often so I don't have to deal with it very much.
And, if you want to change fonts (the appearance of a page), it will take you a very long time because the box closes out after each test. You have to keep going up to the toolbar to reopen the box again.
On a web page? How often do you change fonts?
There are many more problems. These are just a few.
If you were expecting a PC and really like PCs, I'm not sure why you bought a Mac. Yeah, they are different. But there are solutions for most of your other problems. You may also want to try to find a local Mac user to sit with you and talk to you unless you've already decided to sell it.
Irrelevant? Hardly. There is a reason why you see so many Macs on television and in the movies (not all because of Apple product placements). A lot of designers and artists use Macs. Many of the web sites that you use every day were designed on Macs. This is one of the reasons why some of the Microsoft-only extensions never flew. And as long as the Internet runs on open standards, it doesn't really matter how many other people use an OS so long as it does what you need it to do. Only through proprietary standards will we all become slaves to the one OS to rule them all...
No there aren't, you're just not used to it.
You can't SEE anything. The print on the toolbars is microscopic.
Not sure what you're talking about here, which toolbars? Interestingly, one of the most common complaints when OS X came out was that text was too big.
No seeing the C drive and all of its contents. Virtually everything on the computer is hidden. Inaccessible.
Not at all. The Finder should show you all the contents of your drives. Mac OS X is a Unix system and everything is accessible if you know where to look. Run the Terminal application in Applications/Utilities and you'll have a Unix shell (like a DOS command shell but much more powerful).
If you make a mistake when you first sign on as a user, then try to delete it, forget it. Your deleted folder stays there forever.
The only way this should happen is if you create a folder while logged in as one user and try to delete it as another user. This is a feature, not a bug, and Windows most likely does the same thing.
The stupid "dock". It pops up when you least expect it.
Having the Dock pop up is annoying, that's why most users don't have it hidden.
You can't delete your cookies in a batch. You have to delete them manually one-by-one.
That's a complaint regarding IE, not OS X itself. And you can delete all your cookies in IE, just select them all by clicking on the one at the top of the list and shift-clicking on the one at the bottom.
You may also want to look into other browsers. Chimera and Safari are much faster and have better interfaces.
The mouse it comes with doesn't have a right side or a left side; it's all one piece. So you can't right-click anything. This means you can't save images, or copy text, or do anything.
Of course you can, in many ways. You can get a context menu by control-clicking, and you can copy using the Edit menu or Command-C. And you can plug any USB mouse into your Mac and it will work immediately, with full multiple button and scroll wheel support.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the LOUD GONG that starts the log-in.
You mean when you turn it on? The sound level should be controlled by the system volume, although it shouldn't be an issue since there's very rarely a need to do a full shutdown when you can just put it to sleep instead.
And, if you want to change fonts (the appearance of a page), it will take you a very long time because the box closes out after each test.
In what application? Again this doesn't sound like an OS issue.
Mac OS X isn't Windows, there wouldn't be any point if it were. It will take some getting used to, but most of your problems are either trivial to work around or not problems at all. You may end up deciding you like Windows better, which is fine, but you should learn more about OS X before dismissing it.
(This shtick is gettting old!)
Not really. Anybody can make software or hardware that works with Macs without asking Apple for permission. They even give away their developer tools and kernel source code. What they do control is the Mac hardware itself since they don't want any clones; they tried that once and it didn't work out well.
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