Microsoft: Palladium will not limit what you can run

[Jeroen C. van Gelderen]

On Thursday, Mar 13, 2003, at 21:45 US/Eastern, Jay Sulzberger wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Mar 2003, Hermes Remailer wrote:
>
>> The following comes from Microsoft's recent mailing of their awkwardly
>> named "Windows Trusted Platform Technologies Information Newsletter
>> March 2003".  Since they've abandoned the Palladium name they are 
>> forced
>> to use this cumbersome title.
>>
>> Hopefully this will shed light on the frequent claims that Palladium 
>> will
>> limit what programs people can run, or "take over root" on your 
>> computer,
>> and similar statements by people who ought to know better.  It is too
>> much to expect these "experts" to publicly revise their opinions, but
>> perhaps going forward they can begin gradually to bring their claims
>> into line with reality.
>
> The Xbox will not boot any free kernel without hardware modification.
>
> The Xbox is an IBM style peecee with some feeble hardware and software 
> DRM.

and sold by Microsoft below cost (aka subsidized). With the expectation 
that you will be buying Microsoft games to offset the initial loss. 
(You don't have a right to this subsidy, it is up to Microsoft to set 
the terms here.)

> A Palladiated box is an IBM style peecee with serious hardware and 
> software
> DRM.

and sold by numerous vendors. With no expectations like the ones above.

> So, a fortiori, your claim is false.

So, a fortiori you are comparing apples with oranges. Or you may have 
left out the part of your argument that bridges this gap.

Obviously a vendor can restrict what kind of software runs on the 
hardware he sells, either by contract or trough technical means. In the 
latter case the consumer is of course free to circumvent the barriers, 
provided that he lives in a free country. If he doesn't like the 
vendor's policy, he is of course free to vote with his wallet.

Your conclusion may or may not be warranted but it can definitely not 
be drawn from this 3-sentence argument.

Cheers,
-J

-- 
Jeroen C. van Gelderen - jeroen at vangelderen.org

"They accused us of suppressing freedom of expression.
This was a lie and we could not let them publish it."
   -- Nelba Blandon,
      Nicaraguan Interior Ministry Director of Censorship


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