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Geek musings
Monday, 23 December 2002 07:57I found a TCPA / Palladium FAQ linked from somewhere and had a read through it.
That made me a little more insecure. I'm already a bit wary of buying WinXP and am trying to avoid it, largely because I think I shouldn't have to put up with re-registering just because I upgraded my computer or because I re-installed my system after it crashed.
On the other hand, it's attractive because it's got better Unicode support than WinNT (which we have at work) and much better than Win98 (what I have at home)... but then Unicode support in Win9x is pretty much nonexistent. And it's also said to be one of the most stable Windows versions.
So will Palladium versions of Windows come with so many attractive features that people will ignore the difficulties? Or will it be a slippery slope that's not difficult at first but once they've got customers locked in, they'll turn them on? Or am I just being paranoid?
People can get used to a lot of things, I think. A bit like boiling frogs.
I wonder whether this is an opportunity to switch operating systems.
(Oh, and I also don't believe that TCPA will get rid of spam and viruses. The "spam" argument is only valid if all people sending you legitimate email sign their messages on another TCPA platform, which will take a while since not everyone upgrades, and is possible now with something such as PGP already. Otherwise you'll get legitimate non-signed mail that you can't distinguish from spam just on the basis of a signature. And the FAQ makes the interesting point that spammers will just get TCPA machines and sign their spam.
Another interesting point was that nearly all software gets hacked eventually if it's "interesting" enough for hackers to do so... and what would happen if a fake revocation certificate were posted for the BIOS code for popular mainboards and millions of computers fail to boot up because Fritz thinks the computer is insecure?)
That made me a little more insecure. I'm already a bit wary of buying WinXP and am trying to avoid it, largely because I think I shouldn't have to put up with re-registering just because I upgraded my computer or because I re-installed my system after it crashed.
On the other hand, it's attractive because it's got better Unicode support than WinNT (which we have at work) and much better than Win98 (what I have at home)... but then Unicode support in Win9x is pretty much nonexistent. And it's also said to be one of the most stable Windows versions.
So will Palladium versions of Windows come with so many attractive features that people will ignore the difficulties? Or will it be a slippery slope that's not difficult at first but once they've got customers locked in, they'll turn them on? Or am I just being paranoid?
People can get used to a lot of things, I think. A bit like boiling frogs.
I wonder whether this is an opportunity to switch operating systems.
(Oh, and I also don't believe that TCPA will get rid of spam and viruses. The "spam" argument is only valid if all people sending you legitimate email sign their messages on another TCPA platform, which will take a while since not everyone upgrades, and is possible now with something such as PGP already. Otherwise you'll get legitimate non-signed mail that you can't distinguish from spam just on the basis of a signature. And the FAQ makes the interesting point that spammers will just get TCPA machines and sign their spam.
Another interesting point was that nearly all software gets hacked eventually if it's "interesting" enough for hackers to do so... and what would happen if a fake revocation certificate were posted for the BIOS code for popular mainboards and millions of computers fail to boot up because Fritz thinks the computer is insecure?)