Microsoft does it again
Thread Starter
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Joined: Jul 2000
Aviation Qualifications: Spotter
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From: Peripatetic
Microsoft does it again
If they do this I really am moving to Linux:
New Scientist - 29 June:
"Microsoft says it will attempt to toughen up it's PC operating systems in response to criticism that they aren't secure enough.
Versions of Windows from 2004 will run only authenticated programs, to keep out viruses. The system will use encryption to safeguard data, but critics are concerned about the level of control this will give copyright holders such as film studios"
Right, not to Microsoft! Who will decide what is good enough? Who provides authentication? How much does it cost? Will it be by program or individual copy (i.e. MS copy registration).
They don't give up, do they.
New Scientist - 29 June:
"Microsoft says it will attempt to toughen up it's PC operating systems in response to criticism that they aren't secure enough.
Versions of Windows from 2004 will run only authenticated programs, to keep out viruses. The system will use encryption to safeguard data, but critics are concerned about the level of control this will give copyright holders such as film studios"
Right, not to Microsoft! Who will decide what is good enough? Who provides authentication? How much does it cost? Will it be by program or individual copy (i.e. MS copy registration).
They don't give up, do they.
Plastic PPRuNer
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,902
Likes: 0
From: Rochechouart, France
Authentication is already a fact of life on M$ OSs - Win9x was the last version to uncritically accept non-M$ approved drivers. WinME will still accept them, but moans and groans and AFAIK XP won't accept them at all. It is a small step to extend this to applications.
There is some logic in this. Badly written drivers are a major cause of instabilities in Windows, so M$ instituted a driver certification program in which people writing drivers could submit them to M$ for certification and if it is found to be OK a Verisign digital signature file is given and installs into the %windir%\CATROOT folder. Don't know how much M$ charges for it's blessing but you can bet it ain't cheap...
Read details at http://www.eu.microsoft.com/hwdev/driver/digitsign.asp
Given that misbehaving apps. can also crash Windows without difficulty it is hardly surprising that M$ is seeking to extend this to executables as well. Again there are some benefits to this (stability and [?] security)as well as a considerable downside. The downside is of course that eventually only M$ approved programs will run on M$ OSs this allowing M$ to completely lock up the market. Developers will HAVE to submit apps. to M$ for approval, otherwise they just won't run at all. M$ is is unlikely to give it's blessing for free and indeed may, in exchange, impose restrictions on the developer (such as assigning all or part of the rights to M$) so as to control ports of the app. to other platforms like Linux.
While deploring it, you have to admire M$ iron determination to lockup and control the PC world and the Internet utterly and completely and the myriad different ways that it is quietly going about it. What vision! What strategy! What chutzpah! And nobody, even the US Government and Courts can do anything about it...
There is some logic in this. Badly written drivers are a major cause of instabilities in Windows, so M$ instituted a driver certification program in which people writing drivers could submit them to M$ for certification and if it is found to be OK a Verisign digital signature file is given and installs into the %windir%\CATROOT folder. Don't know how much M$ charges for it's blessing but you can bet it ain't cheap...
Read details at http://www.eu.microsoft.com/hwdev/driver/digitsign.asp
Given that misbehaving apps. can also crash Windows without difficulty it is hardly surprising that M$ is seeking to extend this to executables as well. Again there are some benefits to this (stability and [?] security)as well as a considerable downside. The downside is of course that eventually only M$ approved programs will run on M$ OSs this allowing M$ to completely lock up the market. Developers will HAVE to submit apps. to M$ for approval, otherwise they just won't run at all. M$ is is unlikely to give it's blessing for free and indeed may, in exchange, impose restrictions on the developer (such as assigning all or part of the rights to M$) so as to control ports of the app. to other platforms like Linux.
While deploring it, you have to admire M$ iron determination to lockup and control the PC world and the Internet utterly and completely and the myriad different ways that it is quietly going about it. What vision! What strategy! What chutzpah! And nobody, even the US Government and Courts can do anything about it...
Self Loathing Froggy
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 546
Likes: 2
From: elsewhere
More on M$h!t strategy for the years to come :
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020627.html
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/tcpa-faq.html
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020627.html
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/tcpa-faq.html
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 88
Likes: 0
From: somewhere near you
Like everything, there'll be a way round it. just like you can quite easily get cracked versions of £300+ software, people will get round it. it may be hard, and only worth it to a few determined people, but they will.
