microsoft has been trying to kill gpl and even shareware for a long time. they've also been trying to peddle security snake oil for along time. they tried to get pentiums to have "unfakeable" serial numbers, but of course they could be faked or masked entirely (another lame attempt at controlling piracy), the courts helped shut them down last time. we can only hope gates won't be the next beneficiary of the bush interpretation of "free trade" (i.e. your free to buy me to make the rules anything you want). it's scary that microsoft is substantially getting away with murder in the antitrust suit, i hate to think what a judge would do to me if i deliberately presented a faked video tape and got caught doing it (which microsoft did, and they were caught because they didn't fake windows well enough....).
with any luck this will help end microsoft, they're already on their way down. business people have been tired of putting up with them for along time. the banking industry won't be dumb enough to go for this, or at least not for long, and neither will any other corporate it people, not when it endangers their' jobs and makes their days a living hell. microsoft will claim it protects against viruses, but i'll bet you dollars to donuts people will figure out how to break it quickly enough, at least quickly enough to write viruses, and at the same time microsoft will try to sue people who try to break it for legitimate reasons. hopefully the business community will shut it down quickly, i'd hate to see the mess politicians would make of it. there is no absolute security, and increasing levels of security always come at increasing cost, very rapidly increasing cost when you're trying to "secure" the vast see of machines run by mindless aol users and other technically challenged people with enough money to buy computers to play video games. ymmv, but i bet it will be worse. microsoft also has a long history of "improving" open standards and making them proprietary while claiming to support the open standard, they've tried it many times, with varying levels of success. mostly microsoft has succeeded in making people hate computers, but more and more people are realizing that microsoft is the problem, and that they will sooner or latter have to go cold turkey on gates warez and actually learn to use something else, but they are beginning to realize that it will be easier than using microsoft products because the other products will actually work for them, not against them. the microsoft business model is to make it impossible for competition, unfortunately this also makes things nearly impossible for the end user. sooner or later the "traditional" business model of actually serving the customer and making a profit because you do it well will come back, at least i hope it will, the microsoft model is spreading like wildfire, leaving only ashes in it's wake. Pastor Mac wrote: > > A rather significant & scary article about Palladium, M$'s attempt at > a trusted OS that's now under development. This piece should become > the basis for much study, reflection, & comment. > > http://www.theregus.com/content/4/25378.html > > If true, the GPL is in a world of hurt. --------- -- Philip Stortz, mad scientist at large. --Every 13 seconds an American gun owner uses a firearm in defense against a criminal. gun ownership deters crime, it doesn't increase it. gun control increases crime and cost lives. <http://www.pulpless.com/gunclock/framedex.html> -- MaX-list is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> MaX-list info: <http://lowendmac.com/linux/max.shtml> 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/max-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
