Dennis K <denn...@netspace.net.au> writes: > I think it is a given that companies which sell products, are going to > place profits above the data security of their users. Therefore, what > matters is not whether secure boot works, but whether it can be > perceived as working by customers. It only becomes critical for the > company whether it works or not, when the successful implementation of > the technology enables them to secure and hold captive their market > (ie, Apple).
That's a succinct way of showing how the incentives operate differently to produce different behaviour from corporations. Shoddy security from the ones who only need it as a customer-facing checklist item; effective security from the ones who are protecting their own interests. > People are talking about the death of the PC, maybe secure boot will > hasten the demise? It hastens the demise of general-purpose computing; or, at least, it is a significant front in the ongoing war being waged against it <URL:http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111231/01431617249/ongoing-war-computing-legacy-players-trying-to-control-uncontrollable.shtml>. > It certainly seems to me that the American corporate model is hell > bent on self destruction. Wait till China or India or another nation > which doesn't so much care about this provide better freer > alternatives. Not hard to do given the shoddy treatment that users are > given from current IT providers. What makes you think China or India will actually produce organisations (corporations?) that have better incentives to support customer freedom? Yes, the US's corporate model has failed to do this. But I don't see how merely being a different country would necessarily make it produce better organisations; there are reasons to think they would be even worse in the field of people's freedom. > Then the US computer hardware industry will become what their car > industry has become, an expensive, anachronistic, uncompetitive drain. With that I agree. -- \ “A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. | `\ Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in | _o__) principle is always a vice.” —Thomas Paine | Ben Finney _______________________________________________ Free-software-melb mailing list Free-software-melb@lists.softwarefreedom.com.au http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb
