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Microsoft Scales Down Palladium
bonch writes "Formerly known as Palladium, Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) will not be fully available in Windows Longhorn after all. Instead, Longhorn will offer "the first part of NGSCB: Secure Startup," says Jim Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president for platforms. However, most hardware will not support this technology on release."
What, exactly, is Longhorn going to do? They seem to have dropped more features from it than there were in the first place!
Heck, Microsoft cannot even secure its own "proprietary" gaming console, why did we ever fear that they'd lock down all of our computers?!
Perhaps Microsorft have finally realised that such an invasive DRM system will cause a mass exodus of people from windows to Lenix. Microsoft seems determined to play into Lonis Torvaldez's hands with issues like these and I can't say that I'm ungrateful. Now if only WINE could play more games I'd switch straight away as the rest of my pirated material already works perfectly under linix.
Making the moon less necessary since 1998.
What exactly is Longhorn still bringing to the table at its release? I used to look forward to Longhorn when I ran Windows, because it was supposed to contain all these new and wonderful technologies, then I got tired of waiting and .... well, my .sig says it all really.
For Microsofts sake, I hope not,
Good to see that Microsoft have not been concentrating on the frivolous activity of making the GUI sexy (obviously) and have been concentrating instead on the more serious improvements "under the hood".
You know, super secret stuff that they don't want to talk about in case Apple steal for the "Future Cat" operating system in 2020.
So rather than this being something pulled from Longhorn it's just being emphasised that having a system with the TPM chip isn't a requirement for running Longhorn.
You may think me a tired, old, cynic. I'd have to disagree about the tired bit.
"Secure Startup protects users against offline attacks, blocking access to the computer if the content of the hard drive is compromised. This prevents a laptop thief from booting up the system from a floppy disk to circumvent security features or swapping out the hard drive."
In other words, no more pulling out a drive to virus-scan it then replacing it or replacing a drive on an OEM machine - that won't allow it to boot.
"The security platform depends on a TPM chip being present in the system. The chip is an industry standard governed by the Trusted Computing Group, a non-profit organisation which develops security standards."
All nonprofits rely on donations to survive, and I can bet that a LOT of donations are going to start rolling in to them from certain organizations involved in content creation and distribution.
Also, if it requires a custom chip, it ain't gonna go over easy - new motherboards will be required.
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
Either I'm stupid or they are (for humility's sake, I'll assume the first), but doesn't file system level encryption already solve this problem?
Also, Apple is already one step ahead by removing floppy drives from the computers.
Old skool Penny Arcade comic
Microsft reports today that Longhorn will not be shipped at all. Instead, it would be shipping a stripped down version of Windows XP with an all new startup screen and bundled with features from late Windows 3.11
This is my sig. There are thousands more, but this one is mine.
Microsoft is totally dropping the ball. Not that I'm complaining. But giving previews of software that's so bad that they have to threaten those that publish screenshots? Dropping important features?
I tell you, if IBM sunk $1 billion dollars into making a single grandma-usable Linux distribution, it'd be the best $1 billion they ever spent. That's a pipe dream, but seriously, if nobody capitalizes on this, it's a total missed opportunity to break the Microsoft monopoly.
In my opinion, the software is ready. KDE is all set to go. We've got office applications, dtp, multimedia, internet, databases... If somebody could fix CUPS, make software installation simple, and populate all the most important configurations in one area and give them easy-to-use and consistently-designed wizards (that the experienced users could of course ignore), this thing would be ready. Not World of Warcraft ready, maybe, but ready enough. Hell, I'd buy it in two seconds.
The problem is, you need someone with deep pockets to finance all the boring aspects of making a unified-feeling distribution and fixing all the intricate bits (like CUPS or whatnot), but if they did, and slapped a big old IBM on the cover, it'd be dynamite. And having IBM on it would probably add a center juggernaut quality that might make hardware companies more interested in doing proper driver support.
Secure Startup protects users against offline attacks
? PHPSESSID=f6bfd6ada2877cbe69e8f281ef4ca487 that will help you out with that.
Gimme a break. Who needs security from offline attacks more than security from online ones? If that were such a stretch, there are products http://www.computersecurity.com/laptop/cables.htm
As an ACTUAL Windows user (and yes, I do use it; software investment, unfortunately) I'd love to see more ONLINE security: integrated firewall, antivirus, spyware, etc. That would more satisfy me.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~~ Hunter S. Thompson
This will not work properly like other Microsoft "technology"
Holy cow. I've got this image of some guy in a poncho sitting on a donkey in the middle of deep Russia holding a Linux distro. I'd nail down his nationality if I had any clue where people might live who are called "Lonis"...
Is it just me, or is Longhorn increasingly beginning to resemble vapourware? We were sold the idea of a revolutionary next-gen computing platform, with all-new graphics subsystem, trusted computing (yuck, but at least different), enhanced security, relational filesystem, etc, etc, etc.
Now Avalon's being back-ported to XP, trusted computing isn't making it into the final product, WinFS has been pushed back to god-knows-when, and general security will likely be as god-awful and insecure as ever.
Against this background, what does Longhorn actually have to offer potential upgraders? Especially businesses?
Pretty Aero Glass UI? "Windows theme's always worked fine for us, thanks, and requires no user-retraining - why bother upgrading?"
But, it's all new! "Yeah, so we'll have to buy all-new hardware. And beta test it^W^W^W live with the inevitable but unfortunate 1.0 bugs.
Increasingly the reasons are "But, but, but, it's the new operating system from MS - you have to upgrade!", which is, obviously, no reason at all.
I was quite worried about LH when it was first announced - it sounded like a hell of a leap beyond anything Linux and Free Software had to offer (although, given time, I was sure FLOSS would catch up or surpass it).
Now, however, I'm having trouble retaining even mild interest - Microsoft hyped it so much, and are now so publicly failing to deliver on anything they've promised, that by the time it launches I wouldn't be surprised if they've Daikatana'd the thing practically to death.
Longhorn? Long-in-the-tooth, more like - a decrepit and crumbling shadow of it's former self that looks in danger of becoming irrelevent before it's even launched.
Of course, I may be condemning it unfairly here - are there any killer features that will save it from this downward trajectory?
Besides a billion-dollar marketing budget?
Everything in moderation, including moderation itself
Rest assured that the first service pack will consist almost entirely of draconian DRM "enhancements".
(You did read the EULA, didn't you?)
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Anyone know whether MRW (Mount ranier - dynamic remapping of bad sectors on removable media) is still being included in lonhorn?
Haha brilliant.
lobbying for some divine intervention, apparently.
who is she? leave a comment!
Even the die-hard foaming at the mouth MS fanatics seem to be having serious doubts about Longhorn.
Is there anyone who honestly looking forward to Longhorn? It seems like there is less and less of any reason not to go ahead an migrate to either Linux or OS X.
Is anyone else amused at the timing of the release of Tiger? By all accounts it was ready to go a month ago.
WINHEC finishes and then Tiger is released. Longhorn is shown to be an investment in distant future mediocrity and Tiger is released tomorrow.
Who backs them? What is their official reason for existing? What is their real reason for existing? (This last question cannot be answered by merely reading this groups home page; you need to consider the motives of those directing or controlling this group.)
My guess is that their official reason this group exists is "to promote safe environments by protecting users from various malicious computer exploits" or similar sounding goodness.
In contrast, my guess is that their real reason for existing is "to strip users of their existing rights to use the programs and data on their computers so that copyright holders can dictate if, when, and how users may access them".
The black sphere with which you can see "the eye" or Mordor? That shouldn't be used anyway and I am glad Microsoft scales it down! It is a dangerous tool!
Which dick head has modded it flaimbait. M$ products are buggy, insecure, expensive and frustrating. Laugh at them.
If Microsoft was going to start naming operating systems consistently, then... let's see...
Windows 2000 -> Windows NT 5.0
Windows XP -> Windows NT 5.1
Longhorn -> Windows NT 6.0 or Windows NT 5.2?
Or maybe even Windows NT 5.11?
Longhorn or Linux kernel 2.8?
For those wondering what Microsoft has been "doing" for the last 12 months, and how they are spending their billions in revenue. since it's clearly not about "product development", one hint was given by Eben Moglen, who says they have been hiring lawyers for the last 12 months and using them to shake down companies for cash in advance who use free software over "potential" patent disputes. In other words extorcion and racketeering. But you can read about this .
I guess here's one instance where we can be glad MS rarely lives up to their promises...
Is anyone here keeping a list of things that were supposed to be in Longhorn but aren't gonna be?
Exercise caution when modding this message up: the author acts like a jerk when his karma is excellent.
The MS guarantee: Your Machine will be safe for the first 35 nanoseconds.
Timo's Audio Software http://www.esseraudio.com
Just as automobile manufactures develop a concept car in hopes to bring all ideas togeather, I can't help but wondering if Longhorn is offically an OS. Rather, it sounds like Longhorn is nothing more then a pet project of verious concepts microsoft is playing with.
I'm willing to bet the next version of Microsoft Windows will not be as dramatic as we see in Longhorn. I think they know that consumers are tired of being "feature shocked" with a different and reorginized GUI. Hell, I love computers. But I must admit, it does get aggravating having to reaquire reacquire your bearings on any new OS revision.
Life is not for the lazy.
From TFA: "A chip, the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), is used to encrypt data streams between the operating system and applications." ... hmm, why do I think that this coming from Microsoft is not good ?
One question: why ?
I thought modern processors (like the 386) already kept processes from reading each others data. So it's not for separation.
It certainly won't keep an application from hacking the operating system, cause I don't think the TPM could possibly figure out if the data it encrypts is harmfull or not. So if the system call is buggy, it will be hacked TPM or not.
One use could be to only let digitaly signed/unmodified application to run
Feel free to add more ideas...
bye, krajo
Learn to separate truth from illusion. Because in this world, it's the hardest thing to do.
You are probably hearing "security" and "trust" and falsely assuming this means YOUR security, or YOU being able to trust your computer.
In fact you, the user, are not the intended beneficiary of "trusted computing" at all.
The problem now is that people have too much control over their computers. From the perspective of somebody trying to limit what other people do, this is insecurity. If you write a computer program and sell it to someone, why, there's no guarantee at all that people will use it the way you wanted. People may find ways to trick your program into doing things it didn't intend, or even start to fiddle around with it and its innards, or use the files they made in your program in competing applications. It's as almost as if these people believe that just because they bought a copy of your software means they [i]own[/i] that copy. Something must be done about this. Vendors, like Microsoft, want to be able to "trust" your computer not to let you do things with it Microsoft doesn't want you to do. Hence, palladium.
Trusted boot is the first step in that. It convinces people that a piece of hardware in your computer that when switched on limits the ability to write to your hard drive to "trusted" pieces of code (and not scary things like Knoppix rescue cds) is a good idea. Somehow.
In other other news, Netcraft are reporting that microsoft is dead...
1. Regular crashes (couple of times every hour would do) accompanied by "You want to submit a bloody report?" messages. :-)
2. No support for *any* multimedia format except for WMA, WMV and ASF. Who cares for MP3 anyway.
3. It would be really nice to get a "Keyboard not detected - press enter ton continue" message for real in Longhorn
Novell is in the position to rock the house in terms of Linux desktop improvement.
Redhat is great at server stuff. They can tell you how to take their Global File System (GFS) and get it to work with a veritas network attatched storage to drasticly increase the cost effectiveness and performance/response for your end users, however none of those guys have probably used a real desktop OS since Windows 98. First edition.
IBM is a hardware company.. peopel like Linux and IBM combo specificly because IBM has good support and almost no real control over it.
Novell on the other hand has extensive desktop experiance. They have groupwise experiance. They developed NDS, which Microsoft copied to create Active Directory. In fact most of the stuff that MS is praised for in terms of management and deployability is stuff that Novell did first.
And they have a healthy attitude, very loyal customers (those that remain), and they know what it takes to move from Windows to Linux.
They have scripts experiance and the connections with government, industry, and education to pull it off. World wide, if aging, support infrastructure.
One big example: MONO.
Other examples:
Starting Hula.
Supporting development of OpenGL desktop thru things like hiring the guy that created XGL.
Open sourcing YAST, something that Suse never did on itself.
They don't have the resources that IBM has, but they have the experiance.
Lets all hope their is enough life in them left to become a very capable Linux player in the Linux desktop and desktop infrastructure.
Redhat in the enterprise back rooms with IBM and such, novell and supporting apps in the workspace. All sorts of complimentary technologies are coming out for Linux.
Increase in security, increases in peformance and capabilities, support by big players.
But not a Windows killer, yet. Not by a long shot.
This shit is going to take decades. MS is a very good competitor.
A fast booting read-only image is a necessary step to achieve security with a user's machine that is even momentarily exposed to internet.
Microsofts patching model is a security hole in itself. If software can permanently change the state of a machine (especially if downloaded from internet!) the system is insecure.
No amount of virus scanning, port blocking, smart administration, new fangled encrypto-chip or other tweaking will ever be able to ensure that the system has not been comprimised.
As I said, ROMed boot images are necessary for security, but of course, not sufficient. However, solving the rest of the problem becomes larglely an exercise for the network administrator.
Just this one recognition can lead us to predict the future of computing with foresight. The days of multitasking applications on one CPU are over. Probably special purpose diposable/commodity hardware systems that run one application only are the solution. No more upgrades. No more self-running documents.
It is deeply unlikely that Microsoft will be the ones to bring this about. Security will be the death of Microsoft.
You'd have to be mentally damaged to find ".. Naah.. u must be joking." insightful. It's fine and dandy to be aware that Windows isn't always the best software and that Microsoft often make stupid and evil decisions, but that doesn't make constant off-topic reiteration of "windows is teh gay!!!111" relevant or useful. The post you replied to isn't even literate.
Please understand that it's attitudes such as these, and idiots like yourself encouraging them that make Slashdot the joke that it is. You may be simple, but it's not fair to enforce that stigma for the rest of us.
"The security platform depends on a TPM chip being present in the system. The chip is an industry standard governed by the Trusted Computing Group, a non-profit organisation which develops security standards."
[gazes into crystal ball]
I forsee some motherboard companies producing two lines of motherboards: some with the TPM chip and some "classic" boards. This could be Microsoft's EISA...the feature nobody wanted. Win2K works fine for me, but I also run Linux and this may just push me the rest of the way.
Apple went through heaps before ditching Copland. MS should just start from scratch and write a new OS from the ground up. Compatibility be damned, nobody is going to move away from Windows anyway, thats all people know or want to know. A company with 60Billion should weather the storm quite nicely.
Jonathanjk.com
DEVELOPER RANT: don't use if (win_version == nt5.1) use if (win_version >= nt51).
DEVELOP RANT: don't use OS version tests if you can use feature tests instead.
Not a comment specifically directed at you, I don't know if you do this, but I keep running into software on all platforms that doesn't run on older versions even when patches, service packs, hotfixes, software updates, backported libraries, or compatibility fixes have removed the dependency on the specific OS version they hardcoded into the application.
One of the nice things about the Amiga is that all the developer documentation showed code checking library versions instead. Not perfect, but much better than OS version checks. Palm provided hooks to do functional checks down to the entry point level, but then spoiled it by shipping example code doing OS version checking.
If they keep yanking features, they're going to be left with
10 print "Welcome to Windows Longhorn!"
20 goto 10
Windows YP - Why Purchase?
Yeah, it's really useful having a road map showing predictions of routes that don't come true about directions you never wanted to go in the first place...
In the ether,
before it can exist,
leaves a 'feature',
no one will ever miss.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
I'm assuming you'd need a replacement motherboard here.
Given that the last time I replaced my motherboard, I ended up getting replacement hard drives, memory, graphics cards, case, power supply and a whole host of other bits and pieces (yes, it was rather old, but that's beside the point) - I think that it will probably be the best time to consider switching to a Mac.
It wouldn't surprise me if other people consider the same once they work out the true cost of "just replacing a motherboard".
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
This program is to be released next year, and will probably be delayed a few more times. MS' spinmeisters are just trying to keep it in the news, so they create 'news events' that are no events at all. Even negative attention is better than no attention at all. But is it worth the attention? No, not for me, I use Linux exclusively since 2001, and so can you.
;-)
Not only MS is guilty of using this vaporware tactics. All the media are lapping it up too, without even a single note of critisism. It seems we not only need the icbm adress of MS, but those of it's minion news outlets too
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
This exact problem was what made me give up on XP and switch completely to Linux several years ago. I pulled a drive and wanted to get some data out of it and it required product activation to work. After going through that process, I formatted the drive and installed Debian and I haven't looked back since.
Secure startup is making remote attestation of the software configuration possible.
:
...) will be able to enforce that policy. IE-only will be enforced by the hardware inside your computer itself, and it will not be circumventeable.
What does it do ?
If a remote website asks your pc "do you run windows Longhorn ?" it will not be possible to lie. You can not give an answer at all if you choose not to, but you cannot claim you run windows longhorn without actually running windows longhorn.
Why is this useful ? DRM. The way to avoid DRM is to (for example) run a display driver that captures images and prints them out. So now the remote website can ask you "what version/configuration of windows are you running, please specify your display driver."
You can choose to respond in 3 ways
-> not at all -> access denied
-> you can lie -> lie is detected -> access denied
-> you can tell the truth -> access granted
Obviously, in the last case, you are totally at the mercy of their software, which is obviously the whole point of Secure startup.
With secure startup websites that only want microsoft browsers visiting them (your bank, your employer,
What is the effect of this going to have on Linux bootloaders?
Are projects like Grub and Lilo still going to be able to dual boot between Linux and Windows, or is the Secure Startup going to detect this as an interference and stop users from booting into the Operating System?
Fringe users like the ability to Dual boot between their two oses. They like playing in Linux, but want to know that if it all goes horribly wrong, they can still turn back to windows. I was one of these people, although now I exclusively use Gentoo at home.
Remove this dual-boot ability, and there will be several less users who try Linux as a desktop operating system. In my opinion, it will be a big kick in the teeth of the Linux desktop growth rate.
This seems like a perfectly good excuse for Microsoft to solve that dual boot problem which has been pestering them for a long time. Oh, installed another OS? That's quite clearly a violation of your hard disk - EXTERMINATE!
Who wants to bet that by the time Longhorn comes out, NGSCB will be dead?
Or replaced by another even MORE INNOVATIVE security solution by MS?
(Oh but that will just be NGSCB repackaged and renamed a third time.)
I mean geez, do they ever look at their own history of failures, (oh I'm sorry, INNOVATIONS un-adopted by the industry).
And compare it to their own history of successes...
Isn't this just MS telling everybody what they want to hear?
To developers: Longhorn will have NO CHANGES WHATSOEVER. Your code will compile and run fine and continue to make you bucketloads of money.
To admins: Longhorn will have ENHANCED SECURITY. Your users will no longer be able to install Linux without your permission.
To users: Ha! As if MS cares about users... They'll be happy with whatever comes with their new Dell.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
So, you're off to make the final presentation to a client which would seal the deal, and make you a gazillionaire.
You left a floppy in your laptop.
On trying to boot up, the system goes "OH NOES HAX0RS", and locks you out.
Do I smell lawsuit?
It strikes me that Microsoft is feeling the pressure.
MS still has over 95% of the desktop share and roughly 50% of the server market.
You are deaming. They are taking their time becasue they can.
use logic and reasoning.
Burst our bubbles why don't ya..
Damn Vulcan.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Secure Startup will eventually stop people running non-Microsoft OSs on computers.
I don't like the sound of this secure start-up. What does it gain you? What does it lose you?
Gain: deters thieving of h/w because the thief can't run the computer w/o the original s/w installation on disc.
Non-gain: doesn't protect your data on the C: disc; only protects the bits of the computer that don't hold data.
Possible losses:
- No rescue discs (or it could be harder to make rescue discs).
- No Linux bootable floppies (can't boot from floopy).
- No Knoppix CDs (can't boot from CD, presumably).
Hmm. Are they really trying to exclude Linux installations? It could be a lot harder to make a dual-boot machine. (*Dons tinfoil hat*).
So essentially, Windows Longhorn is just an over-animated, "look pretty" OS that's merely a steaming pile of what the Longhorn left in the middle of the field? Is Longhorn really the "Windows 98" all over again? To me, it just sounds like Longhorn is all glitz and glamor, offers no change in terms of computing, and crams a whole lot of nothing into a box labeled for retail at, what's the price on this thing.........omfg!
-- Game Developers: Stop porting badly-textured games from crappy console systems!
OK, I'm not a subscriber, and this has nothing to do with Palladium, but what is with the giant towering Flash ad for Empire Earth II between the "Meta Moderate" line and the first story??? NOT to mention the enormous whitespace between the edge of the ad and the Slashboxes on the right. I'm running at 1280x1024, and this thing has pushed the first story right off the bottom of the screen! I know Rob & Co. need to make money -- I have no problem with that -- but I think the HTML is messed up somehow.
Save Maine's economy: write stuff down. All comments are exclusively my own, not my employer.
"Rather than deliver nothing, Microsoft is saying: 'Let's do what we can deliver.' [Microsoft] had to cut functionality to meet a launch date," said Novoa. He expects the technology to be ready by 2007 or 2008.
Tell everyone about how great the new product is, then find out it just isn't as easy to implement by the release date. They are going to put attestation, sealed storage, process isolation, and secure in/output in Longhorn? It sounds like a good idea but, is this possible to do by 2007?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
With OS X, Apple bit the bullet and made a clean break with their crufty past. They had the Carbon API for a couple of years prior to release which made quite a few apps "OS X ready" from the gitgo. There is the Classic virtual machine for the apps that haven't gotten with the program and everything else is all new and quite a bit saner.
MS should do the same. Chuck the current hopeless mess into a virtual machine and start all over.
Longhorn will probably address security in the following tried and tested way: copy existing free security tools and protocols, add a Ton of unwanted and unnessesary features (with some good old bugs and security holes to boot) and give it an 'X-tream!'(tm) marketing name, then integrate them into the OS to stop anyone unistalling them and distribute for $500.
Oh... and then stop supporting it after 4 years.
Coding Monkey.org - Spanging the heavy spade of truth into t
Many people seem to miss the most important aspect of Longhorn when they comment on Longhorn, and when they compare Longhorn and OS X. In fact, the media should be blamed for projecting just Longhorn's external features.
.Net code. The new APIs are called WinFX. For the understanding of the slashdot crowd, this would be like having java interfaces to access the linux system functionality.
The most important thing about Longhorn is the way developers write code. Windows applications used to be written with the Win 32 API. With Longhorn, the APIs to the core OS will change to verifiable, secure "managed code" or
Hence even if Longhorn does not offer _any_ new features/tools/apps, this change itself is significant. For the first time, the API to the Operating System are natively accessible to a JIT compiled environment or runtime. This will lead to better applications, and applications are what keeps an OS (look at Windows) going. Not features built into the OS. And finally, I cannot stress the importance of this point more!
WinFS, the new Search System, Avalon the presentation system etc are features
It will suck... until they make a 'Longhorn vacuum cleaner'.
If Microsoft was mass, stupidity would be gravity.
E16 is a good release, although it is 5 years old. E17 is supposed to be able to support some more animations etc... I believe if we are going to see revolutionary changes on the *NIX desktop, Enlightenment, KDE, and Gnome are the places to look.
If I remember correctly, Trusted Computing is baaad, at least as far as we /.'ers are concerned.
Why is everyone bashing Microsoft for dropping it?
Rejoyce!
-
Longhorn will offer "the first part of NGSCB: Secure Startup,"
"Secure" as "Secure for Microsoft" you mean ?
The only interesting part has been implemented: don't be able to run/being interoperable with third party OSes.
I'm seeing alot of concern about what this OS is going to do since they seem to be stripping everything out of it. Then I read a comment that they are building a base first and then juicing it up with the features being taken out at a later date. While I do agree with this analogy, I find it good and bad at the same time. MS OS's for the most part come with features that really don't get modified too greatly after its initial release. XP SP2 is really the only update we've seen that changes OS features. Remember too that all of their updates have been FREE and I have good reason to suspect that LH's updates will be free as well. Just because they aren't included with the initial release doesn't mean squat. To you and I that is. The downfall to releasing the updates at a later date is for the average Joe Lunchbox. Those people expect to have everything ready in a turn-key fashion. Some of us do as well. But dumping OS updates on people months after an initial release may get confusing. Make no mistake - Longhorn is the stepping block of future OS's from this company. They aren't going to let it croak. If it bothers you this much then you can always go buy yourself a Mac because afterall, don't they already have the features in question?
the only new feature that will make it into longhorn: Start will be named start. (small S)
Secure Startup ain't done till Linux won't run.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
And as it happens, I'm smoking some lovely crack right now. Mmmmmmmmm, crack.
Yesterday, I modded up a post which just said "dickhead" as informative. Honestly. That was some fine, fine crack I was smoking then. Aaaaaaah.
Thing is, I wasn't fooling around. There isn't a mod option for "+1 Succinct", or "+1 Yes, he is indeed a dickhead, and a twat to boot, and by the way that's the first time I've ever seen a one word abusive post on Slashdot that actually offers a genuine contribution to the discussion", so informative was the best I could offer.
Puff, puff.
Instead of fixing that (which would mean scrapping a lot of working apps such as MS Office), Microsoft is applying layers of band-aids.
For a good example of that, look at viruses on Windows. A virus exploits either a flaw in the security model or a hole in the code.
Running anti-virus software is nothing more than a REACTIVE application of a single band-aid for each and every virus that is currently known.
Yet no one at Microsoft has stopped to think "Hey, why don't we fix the core problem so the viruses can't infect us or spread?"
Instead, Microsoft decides to BUY an anti-virus company.
And Microsoft decides to BUY an anti-spyware company.Because they are NOT doing that.
They are STILL looking for ways to band-aid their existing junk.
But the band-aids are starting to affect each other and the apps that people want to run.They're working on Microsoft code. Why do you ask? And no, they aren't working on the security model.
Which is why we still have ActiveX junk and a browser that is part of the OS.
Skip the rhetorical questions. They don't work.No. What it means is that the band-aids have grown so much that they're now affecting each other, the OS and the apps.
Otherwise, they'd be able to release a quick test suite that would run in the background that would be able to tell you if your app that works on Win2K/XP/2003 would also work on Longhorn.
I guess you don't remember all the talk about Win2K being so much more secure (and the *nix killer).
And how XP was supposed to be so much more secure.
etc. etc. etc.
Microsoft says that about EACH new version when they announce it.
THEN they start dropping features as the development drags on.
Eventually, they ship what they have and declare it to be more stable, secure and easier to use than any previous system.
The next day, they pre-announce the next version and promise that all the dropped features will be that version.
Check back on what the original feature list for "Cairo" was supposed to be. You remember "Cairo", right? Win95?
At least I won't be paying for a system with minor updates.
Apple OS X for x86
MS needs a new OS every x years to milk the corporate cows. Ordinary users can stick with whatever OS works for them, but MS always makes sure that corporate users need to upgrade.
They'll create new incompabilities with every release of every product, and just keep on milking whoever is caught in the treadmill.
In windows, they're usually called shortcuts. In Mac OS they're an alias. Linux uses them as symbolic links.
How to use coral cache: http://slashdot.org.nyud.net:8090/~oscartheduck
Awww, isn't that precious? Now go get yourself a lollipop. Us _big people_ have important stuff to discuss. Run along now! And play nice with the other trolls!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
1. DRM integration, bad idea. Guaranteed to drive people away in the long run. Only sort of crypto MS should be embracing is run-time on-the-fly of apps so they are effectively not pirate-able. I don't mind. I'm willing to pay for a copy if it works and doesn't crash every five seconds anymore. I think.
2. Encryption integration, we already have. Boards have been on the market for a while that will do all this locking down against theft, rendering drives useless without tke keys. Putting it in laptops is way overdue of course. Integrating it tightly with the OS? What if Windows' registry is corrupted and it suddenly thinks you're not an authorized paid user? Oops.
TCP/A, Palladium, crap, whatever you want to call it, not needed and not a good idea.
One warning: should Linux not get its sh*t together and fix the problems for the average innocent and naive users where administration and software installation and deinstallation is concerned, it will drop like a rock compared to a souped up and workably stable successor to Windows XP. Point, double click, answer questions, program installs itself properly for all or one user. No such animal in Linux.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
When it's finally released, won't the majority of "upgrades" be by default when people buy new Windows PCs and have no other OS choice?
It seems that with such a large market share, they won't even have to come up with many improvements at all for the general public to be convinced it's superior to XP.
Yes, *that* Bob Vila.
Granted the last of the line is flamebait but the rest of the post makes some good points.
That would jibe with pundits projected release dates while they try and catch up to Tiger.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Then, after drastically misconfiguring pretty much everything, you complain that Linux doesn't work
I'm not sure how you got your mouse screwed up, I've never had any trouble with any of mine. The chances are you selected not to enable a feature that allows USB hotswapping. Since you appear to be using a very unique distro (Java Desktop according to your journal) I don't know which hardware management system (/devFS, udev, etc) you are using. Do you? I've also never had a flakey video file take out the video subsystem. The worst that's ever happened is it crashed the player, and I've seen Macs amd Windows do that also. And I really don't care if DeCSS is "illegal". I don't use it to rip DVD's only watch. If some company or lawmaker has a problem with me watching a legal DVD on my computer because I didn't pay MS or Apple their "tax" then they can bite me!
And don't blame Linux because you burned your CD's in a non-Windows friendly format - that's your bad altogether. I burn CD's for people to use on a Windows PC (Mozilla, OO.org, etc) and they all work just fine. I burn audio CD's and they work fine in Windows computers and stereos. If yours don't work it's because you did something stupid like change settings you didn't understand.
I get so tired of you people whining about Linux when the real problem is that you aren't as smart as you seem to think you are.
OS X? I just plug devices in, and they work. Period.Not in my experience. I had one hell of a time with a scanner and a printer (seperate units) for my Mom's E-mac. Turns out I had to find, download, and install two different drivers for each unit. That's even worse than Windows! Then again, I'm not a Mac expert so I may have done things the hard way - if so that's my fault, not Apples.
I read your journal, and can the only conclusion I can come to is that you are clueless. You tried installing Sun's Java Desktop (far from a "typical" distro), and then made sweeping assumptions about Linux in general. You've shown that "Those who can - Do. Those who can't - pretend they can and write about it."
TommyOpen Source for Open Minds
Microsoft has very little to show for years of R&D. It's terrible. Apple is a much smaller company and is running rings around Microsoft on the desktop. Sun is a smaller company and makes Microsoft's kernel engineers look like preschoolers. Microsoft's bloat and arrogance are taking their toll, and most people are probably right that Win2K was their best OS. They've peaked. Period.
I know your numbers are inflated, but it doesn't matter. No matter where Microsoft is, they have only one direction to go: down.
So I guess this won't allow booting froma Knoppix disc (or any other rescue disc)? Mind you, it says that access will be blocked if the content of the hard drive is compromised which wouldn't prevent me from booting Knoppix unless the HD was damaged?
So what happens if I get a virus? Will I need to scrap that computer (since it won't boot - even from a CD or other HD - since the C Drive has been corrupted) and buy a new one? Paying MS for another copy of Longhorn to replace the one that failed to protect me in the first place?
How can this even work without hardware and firmware changes to the Mobo? No-ones making this hardware yet, nor have I seen anyone seriously planning to. MS would have to get a law passed before the hardware makers will spend the money to add this feature, and congress isn't that fast even when you bribe, er, I mean pay them.
TommyOpen Source for Open Minds
Every complaint you have about Linux is a direct result of your lack of knowelege.
Really? This is going to be entertaining.
Let me guess - you selected the "custom install" option, or picked an advanced distro like Gentoo or Slackware because you thought you were such a computer genius that you'ld have no problems.
Survey says? No.
Then, after drastically misconfiguring pretty much everything, you complain that Linux doesn't work
Nice, unfounded claim there cheif. Let's see if you can keep it up.
I'm not sure how you got your mouse screwed up, I've never had any trouble with any of mine.
Well there you go. That must mean that all mice must be equally well supported. (rolls eyes)
The chances are you selected not to enable a feature that allows USB hotswapping.
Bullshit. No such option is even offered in modern distros. In fact, my temporary solution was to restart the hotswapping service using modprobe. Oh wait. I must be too stupid to know how to do that.
Since you appear to be using a very unique distro (Java Desktop according to your journal)
And the truth comes out! Didn't even notice the five other Linux reviews, did ya? Or the comments that this issue has happened with two different Microsoft Optical Mice? Or that I tracked it down on the kernel lists, and that the issue is well known but being ignored?
I've also never had a flakey video file take out the video subsystem. The worst that's ever happened is it crashed the player, and I've seen Macs amd Windows do that also.
Really? Good for you. I've had to kill X-Windows more times than I can count because of MPlayer.
And I really don't care if DeCSS is "illegal". I don't use it to rip DVD's only watch. If some company or lawmaker has a problem with me watching a legal DVD on my computer because I didn't pay MS or Apple their "tax" then they can bite me!
Which means that users can expect out-of-the-box media support... when again?
If yours don't work it's because you did something stupid like change settings you didn't understand.
Or in this case settings that didn't exist. But go on, you're making a fine job of being an asshole and making a fool of yourself.
I read your journal, and can the only conclusion I can come to is that you are clueless. You tried installing Sun's Java Desktop (far from a "typical" distro), and then made sweeping assumptions about Linux in general. You've shown that "Those who can - Do. Those who can't - pretend they can and write about it."
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Look who just stuck his foot in his mouth! "Making sweaping assumptions?" Might want to look in the mirror bud!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
After trying and failing to implement numerous features in Longhorn, they decided to change the name to "Shorthorn", which ended up being nothing more than a cosmetic change around WinXP.
And here's Mike with the weather.
Microsoft has been bleeding cash and short-term investments lately.
"extorcion and racketeering"
When I claimed Microsoft could go the way of Enron, people laughed at me. How about now?
This just in: Longhorn has been cancelled. SP3 for WinXP is on its way!
It's the "first part"
Does that sound to you like they will be adding the rest as well once people have gotten used to the "first part" ?
It would appear that the only part of Palladium that they're putting in Longhorn is that which, on "compatible" hardware would _SPECIFICALLY_ prevent a machine from booting any operating system other than the one which was originally installed.
William A. Arbaugh, David J. Farber, Jonathan M. Smith: A Secure and Reliable Bootstrap Architecture.
Okay, so we delay buying and upgrading because Longhorn will be out soon...now we can delay buying and upgrading because Palladium will be out soon.
There you go, now you don't have to worry about having nothing to worry about.
For context, click Parent.
You all my be using Linux, but Windows users are having fun with using many times more programs and using games which aren't cheap knockoffs of commercial titles.
Correction:
I don't think that COM is not the answer here.
Should read:
I don't think that COM is the answer here.
Good grief.
"A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us w
Longhorn will probably end up being to Windows XP what Windows ME was to Windows 98. That is if they continue to drop features.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
It's summer of 2005, and God summons to him Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush and Bill Gates.
God: I'm going to be blunt. I've gotten tired of Earth and I will completely wipe it out in 30 days. I've summoned you here so you can tell your people. Now go.
Putin appears in an emergency address to the Russian people on public TV channels, and announces -
Putin: I have two bad news for the Russian people. The first - we were wrong, God does exist. The second - he will destroy the Earth in 30 days.
Bush appears on national TV, and announces:
Bush: My fellow Americans, I have two news - One good, and one not-so good. The good news is that God exists and that I've met him. The not-so good news is that he will wipe us all out in 30 days.
Bill Gates summons all of his top pointy-haired underlings and announces:
Gates: I have two great news. The first is that God thinks I am important. The second is that we won't have to meet our deadlines and ship Longhorn by 2006.
Klik http://klik.atekon.de/
/ damnsmall/mydsl/apps/
Or Iris from the now defunct Lycoris?
Or perhaps like the Linspire ClickNRun Warehouse http://clicknrun.com/
or perhaps you mean like Damn Small Linux's Click and Load Desktop http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions
Or do you mean an Installer like Windows Installers - well they have that too http://autopackage.org/ for instance.
Not to mention Synaptic, K-Package, Yumi, and there are more graphic frontends to Yum and Apt where all you have to do is set the repositories and then just click the program for install and let it go and do its work.
DUDE WTF!!! How much easier can it get than browse to page of the app, read a description and perhaps look at a screenshot- then click it and it installs and configures itself. You don't get any more hand-holding than that.
Perhaps you haven't used a Linux in a while or perhaps you are a paid shill- Either way you seem to not know the current lay of things.
Although DRM is bad!!! What MS is trying to do here goes beyond evil... No more used computer market, no more switching oses, No more running "untrusted"(Read FOSS/Non-MS) apps, uhmm... pretty much MS wants to trun your machine into a pile of crap.
Frankly, I'm tired of all this security stuff. No more freedom. Can't have one without giving up part of the other. In the context of computing, people/companies should stop wasting resources devoted to security and actually make some cool stuff. Computer stores now have racks full of AV and spyware removal software. What a waste of space.