Slashdot Mirror
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'."
It's not that companies like AMD and Intel particularly like this effort. As hardware/chip/part manufacturers, it's just more work for them. They support the inititive because they need to stay on Microsoft's good side in the up coming x86-64/itanium battle.
..start buying 'old' processors and set up your own cluster.. you won't need new CPU for a while :)
-- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
To Run Linux on the opteron. Seriously, I think all these DRM moves by MS our great, /. should welcome them, it will just speed up the world migration to Linux. There even seems to be a lot more interest in Linux these past few weeks on usenet since certain "free" winxp installtions can't use sp1.
That won't happen directly, it's too obvious. What could happen is this:
Law 1) Make it illegal to disable DRM unless the companies say you can (this is already in place).
Law 2) Make DRM mandatory in all hardware devices (currently being pushed hard by the ??AA).
Law 3) Require DRM hardware to ONLY run DRM-compliant software (not too hard to imagine).
Boom. That's the end of legal free (and Free) software in the USA. It would also be the end of programming as a hobby; programming would require expensive signatures in order to be allowed to run.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
Well if there are more factors as you say then WTF are they? Why don't you share a few with us?
I have one: AMD wants to stay in business. M$ is THE ONLY OS that works with most every peripheral and software package on a consistant basis. Why? Because M$ is a monopoly and everyone knows it. I want to be a Linux fan but there is no Linux company that will get off their ass and make a version where I don't have to compile shit. The end user should not have to recompile the kernel. Linux has a great future but that is the FUTURE. AMD needs an OS NOW. Since linux can't do it who else will? M$. Businesses are here to make money and to stay afloat AMD went ahead an sold their souls. Would you have it that Intel was the only processor company out there? I certainly wouldn't.
If you don't think Apple will be up against the wall like everyone else, implementing some form of DRM, you're deluded. Once content begins to be released with DRM restrictions, Apple will have to make a competing implementation, or else you'll find your precious lickable G4 unable to run an increasing number of things. The only technologies that could survive without DRM (assuming the CBDTPA doesn't pass) would be those that don't share a market with Windows, and they are very few indeed.
Want Linux games? HERE.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=5489
/.ers?
"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."
Make damn sure to check the most current of facts before posting FUD, fellow
------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
Maybe... just MAYBE 1.8 Ghz with win98 or linux or whathaveyou is fast enough. I STILL use my old p166 for the majority of my "work" related activities (email, word processing, etc), I doubt I'm going to find an app any time soon that wont run well on my 1.8 Ghz monster. Bet my p166 is still chugging along 5 years down the road, too.
-jhon
update your stock of chips now. you won't need this 10GHz chip that soon. Only Intel, AMD etc. try to talk you into believing you will.
"Moorhead, AMD's vice-president of consumer advocacy, dismisses consumer complaints that the ever-tightening noose designed to stop online piracy, known as Digital Rights Management (DRM), will erode existing rights.
But he says AMD believes that these technologies should be "opt-in" - that the user should control it - not government mandates."
Two things. I wonder if Mr Moorehead would accept a full DRM computer? It's always easier to impose something draconian on others if you don't have to suffer them yourself.
Second if it is indeed an "opt-in"[1] then what's the point of having it in the first place?
[1] Some thing may indeed be switchable, but companies that want to excercise their "IP" could simple make it a "you want what we have, then you have to turn it on". Negating the difference between "opt-in" and "opt-out".
As long as people are running windows 98 on non-DRM hardware this will never fly past the drawing board. People will not upgrade thier computers to view content and if they are forced to that content will never catch on.
This whole process will happen over such a long period of time that it is completely consevable that it will take Apple just as much time to gain a signifigant percentage of market share then it would DRM enabled computer to catch on en mass.
Where does that leave us? Media vendors will be selling content to too few people and end up folding purely due to the fact that there is not enough demand for the conent.
From the same FAQ you link to:
Q: Can Linux, FreeBSD or another open source OS run on "Palladium" hardware?
A: Virtually anything that runs on a Windows-based machine today will still run on a "Palladium" machine (there are some esoteric exceptions[1]). If you currently have a machine that runs both Linux and Windows, you would be able to have that same functionality on a "Palladium" machine.
[1] These exceptions include the following:
Some debuggers may need to be updated to work in the "Palladium" environment, but they can still work.
Some special performance tools may need to be updated.
Software that writes directly to TCPA hardware will need to be updated.
Memory scrub routines (at the hardware level) will need attention.
Third-party crash dump software may need to be updated.
BIOS mode hibernation features will need to be updated to work with "Palladium."
Palladium means that anyone who wants to be able to view Palladium-protected media will have to have Palladium-compliant hardware. It's a goddamn goldmine for Intel and AMD! Imagine all the people who wouldn't otherwise bother to upgrade buying new chips so they can watch their DVD movies or whatever. That's a large amount of sales.
Software piracy is victimless theft.
For forced DRM to work, all the hardware must support it and be locked down to prevent tampering. If the rest of the world says no to Palladium/TCPA, the Taiwanese motherboard makers will still make unrestricted motherboards for all the non-US markets. It could be as easy as a BIOS flash with a Euro or Asian ROM.
Ok, so the US gets all this restrictive legislation passed - the cabal has their way and implements hardware DRM to enforce it while the rest of the world has a good belly laugh. The arrogance to think that there won't be alternative hardware available from Asia - or anywhere else for that matter - is stupifying.
The emerging markets for new technology is not the US but the parts of the world that don't have it now. If MS, Intel, etc are only selling locked down software on 4GHZ chips, why wouldn't a consumer in say China choose Linux/BSD/etc on a say a VIA processor and chipset that doesn't implement DRM?
This is all such a waste... and economic suicide for US technology companies. To think they can impose their self interests outside their borders - after they thumb their nose at organizations such as the world court - is inexplicable.
This nonsense can't be enforced and in the end the 'bootleg' companies will win.
Prohabition, speakeasys and organized crime - funny how history repeats itself.
If you turn it off, you will be unable to use Palladium protected media,
.
:-D
For some reason I have the strong suspicion that most pirated videos or MP3s will NOT be Palladium protected. . .
Call it a huntch.
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
How will it prevent virtual machine from interacting with virtual hardware that doesn't happen to enforce any restrictions?
With any Palladium system, you will be able to disable Palladium in BIOS, so it _doesn't matter_ if a system supports it or not. If you turn it off, you will be unable to use Palladium protected media, just like pre-Palladium systems.
...and with any DIVX enabled player, you could just watch DVDs and never touch a DIVX disc, right? That is of course until DIVX "enhanced" players have a majority share in the market - then DVDs would have disappeared. Likewise, when most PCs support palladium, it will start becoming mandatory. Want to play that new FPS game online? It needs to run in a trusted enviorment to make sure you're not cheating. Want to run the latest version of MS Office because MS changed the document format yet again and you need to open documents from work? MS Office now requires Palladium support enabled to run. If you're presently not using a MS OS, it may be easy to overlook the significance of Palladium. Just remember, if you don't speak out for the Windows users because you're not a Windows user, just wait 'till big brother comes for you because "only hackers/terrorists/child pornographers use non-palladium hardware/software".
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Just get a Transmeta processor and hack the Pentium emulation layer...
As long as people are running windows 98 on non-DRM hardware this will never fly past the drawing board. People will not upgrade thier computers to view content and if they are forced to that content will never catch on.
It depends on the magnitude and the quality of the content offered. The mythical Joe Sixpack just might go out and buy a new computer if he could watch every new feature film for the low, low price of $3 a viewing, or put together custom CDs for half the price of CDs he picks up in stores; that is, he might if he's a big enough consumer.
This whole process will happen over such a long period of time that it is completely consevable that it will take Apple just as much time to gain a signifigant percentage of market share then it would DRM enabled computer to catch on en mass.
To paraphrase, it's also completely conceivable that monkeys could fly out of my butt.
Apple computers are not yet at the "commodity" price point, whereas PCs are. Is Joe Sixpack going to go out and buy a $999 eMac/iMac when Gateway has a Profile 4 for $699? Is he going to bother learning Mac OS X, then get pissed off when none of his Windows apps work, or buy another Windows box and neatly get out of having to buy new software? (Remember, Joe Sixpack has heard of neither Linux nor BSD, and he has no clue what open-source software is.)
Where does that leave us? Media vendors will be selling content to too few people and end up folding purely due to the fact that there is not enough demand for the conent.
If a significant fraction of 95% of the consumer retail market switches to the Mac platform for no reason other than they look pretty (and lack this "DRM" thing that's going to get rid of hackers and terrorists.) If you can somehow convince that market that this "Palladium" thing is morally wrong, even though it allows them to watch TV on their computers.
This whole situation hinges on two things:
1) Palladium gets introduced as a major trend in computers.
2) Microsoft royally fucks something up.
3) Both 1) and 2) occur before Apple/IBM/Motorola/the Trilateral Commission succumb to market pressures and come up with a TCPA/Palladium-compliant DRM implementation.
If, and only if, these things happen, and people see that their Wintel boxen aren't running all the things they used to, will people switch to unencumbered platforms. Pray that they do.
Want Linux games? HERE.
I love Sun gear too, but I don't know if a single cpu sparc platform makes much sense. I don't know if Sun gear gives the same bang for the buck on a single (or even dual) cpu machine. On a 4+ cpu machine, maybe... I guess the quality of the HW has to count for something, and Sun service has always been excellent, in my experience.
Also, I think the Solaris kernel is really good, better than Linux IMHO, except for the hardware driver availability, which doesn't matter for a sparc box. On the oher hand the rest of the OS takes serious amounts of work before it is usable for anything. RedHat, for instance, is much more complete. Sun should really spend some time integrating the OSS tools, which are far better than the propritary SVR5 sh-t that they are shipping. Why do they ship vi instead of vim? Why Why Why?
They should just download a version of RedHat and use that as a guide of what to include in a modern lunix distro.
One thing that Solaris has that I miss on Linux is a good auditd, but...
This system is very bad news. Opt-out will be very short lived, as I'm sure MicroSoft expects Windows and many Windows apps to be broken very quickly, and the hackers will tell people to turn off TCPA to run the hacked binaries. Then the RIAA/MPAA will insist that the government make a regulation that requires people to stop making chips where it can be turned off.
AMD has no choice in this matter. It needs to support palladium so that Microsoft ports windows to x86-64. Without windows, AMD is dead. Notice that Intel is doing the same thing -- again because it has no choice. Once again, Microsoft has everyone by the balls, so I suggest you instead direct your mail to One Microsoft Way.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
It's not that the two companies COULDN'T do that, it's that neither company WANTS to do that!
....everyone you can!...tell "PC Magazine", the marketing droids at your company, technical manager in your department....tell your aunt that's calling about "getting a Dell"...tell everyone that talks with you about comptuters that this sucks....it's crippled....."it's really bad, I wouldn't spend my money on it..."
The hardware makers are in a cage too, if either one of them DOESN'T support it, they could hand the market share to the one that does. They're both FORCED by the margins to go along!...
The only answer lays with the consumer....DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT....EVER!...
DONT EVEN LET IT GET A FOOTHOLD!.....
YOU!...the person reading this...use your influence as a tech person reading this list....tell everyone you know that
that "this Paladium thing sucks!"
tell anyone asking you for tech advice..."...this Paladium thing sucks..."...
Work it into casual conversation..."..yeah, you know that this new Paladium thing REALLY sucks...."..
Need to kill this thing now...and we shouldn't take our collective power for granted on this one....you can bet that MS and RIAA are working up the "positive" buzz for this right now. I imagine that there will be a media campaign for this after Christmas season....
Nothing kills a new product faster than "consumer apathy," and for good measure, a heaping helping of distrust/dislike.
We need to start buzzing about this thing rather than quietly accepting defeat/takaway of our rights.
A game with no serial number to prevent making copies and playing them online is also a game I purchased two copies of. One for myself when it came out, and a second for $20 as a X-mas present for a friend. If developers make products worth buying, then they will sell many copies. cd-keys, and more draconian digital signing and activation nonsense only inconveniences legitimate purchasers when they try to use their *uncracked* licensed copies.