Intel Has a New Spectre and Meltdown Firmware Patch For You To Try Out (betanews.com)

Mark Wilson writes: The Spectre/Meltdown debacle continues to rumble on, and now the chip manufacturer has announced the availability of a new 'microcode solution' to the vulnerability. The updated firmware applies to 6th, 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core devices, and the release sees the company crossing its fingers and hoping that everything works out this time.

This is Intel's second attempt at patching the vulnerability, and this time around both the company and its customers will be praying that the fix for Skylake, Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake chips actually does the job.

Comments

Tricky decision

[bestweasel]

I'm waiting for the point when the Intel patch does less damage than Spectre and Meltdown. Are we there yet?

Prayer vs. Testing.

[geekmux]

"...this time around both the company and its customers will be praying that the fix for Skylake, Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake chips actually does the job."

I can understand the masses praying for a legitimate fix, but the company is praying this will work? Did they suddenly abandon the concept of testing prior to release?

I mean, it's not like Intel has to go digging to find a metric fuckton of affected hardware...

Reminds me of an old TV show

[93 Escort Wagon]

There was a campy, over-the-top parody TV show called "Sledge Hammer" back in the 80s... although even if you're old enough, you may not remember it since it wasn't exactly a roaring success. The "protagonist" (using that term loosely) was a gun-happy cop whose solution to everything involved using his gun. If someone was stealing a candy bar, he might shoot the candy bar out of the perp's hands, for instance. If an old lady missed her bus, he might shoot out the tires of the bus.

Anyway, right now Intel reminds me of the show's intro. Most of it just featured glamour shots of Sledge Hammer's gun... but, at the end, Sledge Hammer says "Trust me, I know what I'm doing", and he shoots - but the bullet miscarries, resulting in a (virtual) bullet hole on your TV screen.

That's Intel, in a nutshell.

Cardassians/Kardashians - The difference

[knarfling]

Remember that there are two groups with similar names, the Cardassians and the Kardashians. One group is vaguely reptilian, have large misshapen heads and an overblown and undeserved sense of superiority. The other group, of course, invaded Bajor.