Microsoft Drops Next-Generation Security Project [updated]

grooveFX points to this CRN article which starts "After a year of tackling the Windows security nightmare, Microsoft has killed its Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) project and later this year plans to detail a revised security plan for Longhorn, the next major version of Windows, company executives said..." grooveFX writes "Glad to see they actually listen to the gripes from the media and users." Update: 05/05 19:13 GMT by T : phil reed writes "Oops. According to this article on Microsoft Watch, Microsoft really isn't giving up on NGSCB (aka 'Palladium') after all. Microsoft spent much of Day 2 of its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here refuting a published report claiming the company has axed its Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) security technology."

Comments

NGSCB NOT a security project.

[Hobbex]

Please stop making the mistake of thinking that NGSCB was ever a security project. It is simply the newer name for "Palladium", Microsoft's total lockdown and DRM system to create a "trusted" (by the music industry, not by you) computer.

Microsoft dropping this is good in every way, except that it's ghost will return in other forms for sure...

Re:NGSCB NOT a security project.

[blowdart]

Except it's NOT being dropped according to a WinHEQ talk.

Microsoft-Watch has details,

Microsoft spent much of Day 2 of its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here refuting a published report claiming the company has axed its Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) security technology. "NGSCB is alive and kicking," said Mario Juarez, a product manager in Microsoft's security and technology business unit.

Who to believe?

Re:Microsoft does what it does best

[carsont]

Whereas legacy systems such as Unix are finding it harder to support newer hardware features such as the NX codes in the latest AMD and Intel chips

Uh, what?

As far as I know, the so-called "NX codes" are just the ability for the MMU to mark a page of memory as non-executable.

Real architectures, such as SPARC, Alpha, and PA-RISC, have had this feature for a long time. It's used in Solaris for the non-executable stack feature, and it's the basis for OpenBSD's W^X feature.

So Intel, AMD, and Microsoft are just catching up to features which platforms you dismiss as "legacy systems" have had for years.

No, Palladium is still very much alive

[Anonymous Coward]

Interestingly, at the same time as this article pops up in feedreader, I get this link from e-week that refutes the claim. Net: microsoft says palladium is still very much alive.