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Intel To Drop CPU ID Number

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the pats-on-the-back dept.

slashdoter writes: "Looks like Intel is giving up the ID number thing on the CPU. They will still have it on the PIII but the Willamette will be like the older PII. " Guess the boycott over the fiasco is at an end. Cool that Intel listens to consumers.

6 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. I am not a number... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

    I am a free CPU

  2. The Id Number was a good idea gone bad by The+Infamous+TommyD · · Score: 5

    I have this straight from one of Intel's senior researchers. The original concept was that the CPU ID would be used for tracking assets in an organization. Inventory type stuff. This was actually asked for by major IT departments.

    Then: The marketing dept. got hold of the ID number and started asking around about what it could be used for and someone said oooh, e-commerce! It was then that things got out of control and everyone got onto Intel for tracking them, etc.

    The sad thing is that you don't need a CPU id if you allow your adversary to execute arbitrary code on your machine.(which you would have to do to allow someone to read your ID #) I mean a nice unique ID number is available by running /sbin/ifconfig

  3. removed? by coreman · · Score: 5

    or just reimplemented in an undocumented way?

    Even paranoids have enemies

  4. the last thing they needed in the first place... by LocalYokel · · Score: 4
    Intel really needs to get their ass in gear on several much more important things:
    • Provide a chipset that makes Rambus even halfway worthwhile.
    • Differentiate their CPUs by price and performance (L2 cache variances are not enough)
    • Release a 1GHz processor to the retail market
    • Show support for PC133 and DDR SDRAM
    • Prove that the Pentium III processor really does make the Internet more fun


    --
    --

    --
    E2 IN2 IE?

  5. CPU ID dead from no MS support by RayChuang · · Score: 4

    Folks,

    I think the CPU ID idea used on the Pentium III CPU died real quickly because Microsoft never really supported the idea in Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000. Given that's 85% of the operating system market, when Microsoft doesn't support the CPU ID#, nobody else is going to support it.

    --
    Raymond in Mountain View, CA
  6. I liked the serial number by Animats · · Score: 4
    The CPU serial number was a good idea, ruined by stupid marketing statements and unwarranted activist enthusiasm. Sun has had CPU serial numbers for over 15 years, and nobody is bothered by that.

    CPU serial numbers are useful mostly for networking, inventory control, and copy protection. If you've had to deal with dongles, or FLEXLM, the License Manager from Hell, CPU serial numbers look like a big improvement. Dongles are notorious for having problems when you have more than one. They usually plug into the printer port (although USB dongles are appearing) and try, not too successfully, to be transparent. On my system, if the printer runs out of paper, the dongle can't respond to the license manager, and the licensed software stops running.