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AMD Opteron to support Palladium

Jim Norton writes "This article is just a reminder that AMD is just as guilty as Intel in supporting TCPA / Palladium. AMD has announced that Opteron will be compatible with the Palladium Initiative and that AMD is part of the 'Trusted Computing Alliance'."

12 of 454 comments (clear)

  1. Addendum by Ridge · · Score: 5, Informative

    Note that apparently the Opteron (Autobots, transform!), will support untrusted/unlicensed content as well. [neowin.net].

  2. Story is Incorrect (perhaps) by whovian · · Score: 5, Informative
    AMDZone says differently:
    Update: AMD has contacted The Inquirer and indeed Opteron will not support Palladium. Apparently that was some creative writing on the part of the outfit that posted the story.
    --
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    1. Re:Story is Incorrect (perhaps) by whovian · · Score: 5, Informative
      AMDmb adds further:
      AMD's Opteron won't reject unlicensed content - Ron Goldin - Fri, Sep 20, 2002 - 10:46 AM
      Palladium... just that word sends shivers down my spine.. but it seems AMD is trying to smooth things over a bit and take away the shakes.
      In fact, according to an AMD UK representative, AMD's Opteron products will run any kind of content in the future -- contrart to the report in The Age, on which our original report was based.
      Part of the content in The Age failed to distinguish between comments Moorhead made and conjecture, AMD said. [emphasis added]
      Source: The Inquirer - More Information

      --
      To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  3. Support is optional by Analysis+Paralysis · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ceck out the update on The Inquirer here. According to AMD, TCPA support will be optional, with users being able to opt out.

  4. TCPA I can live with but palladium?? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Informative

    TCPA is more strict then palladium but TCPA is founded by Intel, IBM, HP and a few other players who are more sympathetic to linux then Microsoft.

    TCPA is already secretly installed by default on most IBM machines but the good news is you can turn it off and run linux on them. IBM is one of the biggest investors of TCPA and has also invested more then a billion into linux. They will make sure linux will run on TCPA hardware or that TCOA can easily be turned off. However microsoft's palladium will be built into memory modules and the cpu itself. Ouch. I do not know if you can turn these off. Microsoft's palladium faq states that you can still run old non trusted apps but admits linux can not run due ot legal rather then technical reasons. TCPA is more strict from a technical standpoint but it has proven itself that it can be easily disabled and I trust IBM a hell of alot more then Microsoft concerning my interests.

    If worse comes to worse macs are always an option. It will take forever before apple is done designing motherboards with the new IBM powerpc chip's( last quarter 2003) which means g4's will stay for another year or two with slow memory access(sdram). Sure the new macs come with ddr but the internal chipset slows it down to sdram 133 speeds because the g4's suck so much.

  5. Not all documents are locked documents by yerricde · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hollywood and the music industry are lobbying hard to make DRM mandatory in all new devices

    Once the TCPA system becomes more widespread, Hollywood will have less room to bitch because there will be a Secure Memory Space(tm)(patent) in the most popular consumer operating system, and Hollywood studios will be able to provide Video On Demand services within that space.

    and existing laws here and in the US make it a crime to switch it off.

    Not exactly. The Palladium and TCPA systems simply provide a way to lock down data such that only specific applications running on one machine can use it. In order for Palladium or TCPA to actually restrict anything, the content provider must make the choice to lock down the data (conforming Compact Discs are not considered locked down). This doesn't give the RIAA labels an absolute oligopoly, as it's still possible for artists to Not Lock Down(tm) their .ogg files.

    The public TCPA information stresses that only TCPA apps will use the TCPA memory space. Microsoft's Palladium materials make the same claim. And you'll apparently be able to turn off the systems in the BIOS setup, which will have only one effect: apps that use those systems will throw up an alert box to the effect "The locked document 'Love Me Now.wma' could not be opened because Palladium was not found." They do NOT force all documents to be locked documents.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  6. Re:If you RTFA... by rosewood · · Score: 3, Informative

    I posted this in another thread but again, from hardocp.com

    Comments that looked like they were from Pat Moorhead on an Aussie Web site are not from Pat Moorhead, the firm has just told us.In fact, according to an AMD UK representative, AMD's Opteron products will run any kind of content in the future -- contrary to the report in The Age, on which our original report, below, was based.

    Part of the content in The Age failed to distinguish between comments Moorhead made and conjecture, AMD said. AMD, in fact, claims it is the "good guy", and even though it is a member of the "trusted computing" initiative, will allow users to opt in whether to use this type of technology or not. "There is nothing [in Hammer] that could actually prevent a user running unlicensed content," the representative from AMD said MM.

  7. Let 'em know ... by rlp · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't like Palladium - write to Intel and AMD and tell them
    that you won't buy processors that support Palladium.
    Intel backed-off CPU-ID's (for the Pentium III) quickly when
    they realized that it would cost them sales. In general,
    pissing off your best customers is not a smart long term
    business practice.

    If you write - remember: be concise and polite:

    Intel:

    Chairman: Andy S. Grove
    CEO: Craig R. Barrett

    Corporate Offices:
    2200 Mission College Blvd.
    Santa Clara, California 95052, USA

    AMD:
    Chairman: W. J. Sanders III
    CEO: Hector de J. Ruiz

    Corporate Offices:
    One AMD Place
    P.O. Box 3453
    Sunnyvale CA 94088, USA

    --
    [Insert pithy quote here]
    1. Re:Let 'em know ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I guess you didn't write to everyone though. PowerPC chips have unique CPU ID's in them as well.

  8. Re:You're kidding, right? by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't see the risk to chip manufacturers. I do see a potential risk to Windows market share, because this will piss people off. If the really invasive incarnations of this conincide with the release of a very solid WINE embedded in a nice Linux distribution, it will make very little sense to keep buying Microsoft operating systems.

  9. Re:You're kidding, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It would be even better. There will be
    Palladium 1.0, Palladium 2.0, Palladium 3.0.
    And for each new geneeration you will have
    to buy a new CPU!!! Finally there will
    be a way to force customer to buy
    new CPU even if the user does not need more
    speed - just because the newer soft will require
    newer protection!

    Also finally both soft and CPUs will be leased
    to consumers! No need to develop any more people
    will simply pay year to year for both software
    and hardware!

    What a dream for vendors!

    Kubus

  10. Re:Nope by pr0nboy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually that is not correct. Palladium is not just the software implementation of the TCPA spec. Both TCPA and Palladium refer to trusted systems that require both hardware and software support, but they are distinct systems. The biggest difference is in the boot process- TCPA takes over at start up and will only go into trusted mode if the OS is signed and verified. Palladium is not involved in the boot process at all- it is enabled later and essentially runs parallel to the OS kernel to secure the memory and resources of an application. This wasn't clear until recently, so a lot of people have this misconception.

    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default. asp?url=/technet/security/news/PallFAQ2.asp
    http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/2002-07-05.html