[...] >> Additionally, AMT also features what Intel calls "IDE redirection" >> which >> will allow administrators to remotely enable, disable or format or >> configure individual drives and reload operating systems and software >> from remote locations, again independent of operating systems. Both AMT >> and IDE control are enabled by a new network interface controller. >> >> "We all know our [operating system] friends don't crash that often, but >> it does happen," Tucker said. >> >> Intel's reticence to speak publicly about what lies under the hood of >> its latest firmware technology has also prompted calls to come clean >> from IT security experts, including Queensland University of >> Technology's assistant dean for strategy and innovation, IT faculty, >> Bill Caelli. >> >> "It's a dual use technology. It's got uses and misuses. Intel has to >> answer what guarantees it is prepared to give that home users are safe >> from hackers. Not maybes, guarantees". >> >> Caelli said it was "critical Intel comes clean" about how the current >> DRM technology is embedded into the new CPU and chipset offering. >> >> Microsoft was unavailable for comment at press time. > > > Can you say "Big Brother"? > > - Peter
Great, so now when somebody cracks your machine, even software patches will not help you!...I wonder how many PC makers will adopt it, though, given all the recent hoopla about security. The DRM pushers will have to offer some really great multimedia features for such a chip, such as realtime high-definition streaming movies, to entice people to use it. It will probably wind up being used mostly in more-or-less dedicated boxes, for things such as movies-on-demand via your cable provider or ISP. I can't imagine corporate admins will want to touch those boxes with a nuclear hazmat waldo...unless they're content providers into consumer homes, of course...in which case they'd try to get us to touch the radioactive monkey.... While we're on the topic (again)...I lay in bed early this morning, thinking about the Apple/Intel parnership -- well, actually I was thinking about whether I should buy a used PPC now, but I'll save that for another time, & just say that I was also thinking about the larger implications, like for instance, what is happening in the minds of Intel's leadership? That's an angle I don't see discussed much, at least not in our Machead circles. What's in it for Intel? And why does Jobs think that, in the long run, he will necessarily get more respect from Intel than he got from IBM or, earlier, Motorola/Freescale? If Apple is just going to be scooping up chips off the heap at the end of the Intel assembly line, it can always go to AMD or someone if Intel gets snotty about Apple's market share. That also means, however, that Apple gives up any particular advantage in terms of the speed or features of its CPUs. If, on the other hand, Apple is eventually going to be using a new chip from Intel, perhaps with high-end features, what incentive does Intel have to keep Apple happy, if it becomes inconvenient from a business angle, any more than IBM had? Even less, given Apple's size relative to Intel's market. Business is business: that's way Apple got the cold shoulder from IBM when the game box market started looking so hot, compared to Apple's measly buy. They may start out using the already existent Pentium M, especially in laptops or the new Mac Mini, but one can detect a clear intent emerging from both parties' plans to do new, cool stuff -- 64-bit, for sure; perhaps with some new type of enhancement, beyond today's SMP and multi-core dreams. I wonder -- no, it has to be! -- if Intel is thinking, "is Longhorn the OS of the future?" The long partnership with Bill Gates has to be under strain, & with the congealed mass that is the Windows code base slowly necrotizing into a gangrenous puddle with each attempt to fix one part fubaring the others (so the reports are going), Intel has to be wondering whether the company that has driven their profits for so long, forcing users into endless cycles of bloatware-driven hardware upgrades, is finally reaping the reward of all those years of bad coding practices & dubious security decisions, as it slides into utter incompetence and incoherence. -- Bill Art page: <http://geocities.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com
