Blah death of Linux Blah ;p
Umm... hope this isn't old news you've heard 2000 times before. Just in case it's news though.
How Microsoft Plans to Use a New USB Standard to Cripple Linux
Maybe you noticed last week that Microsoft had suddenly discovered that portable USB devices were a threat to data security. Of course, they have always been so, but Microsoft just noticed this out loud last week, saying that they would be dealing with the problem as best they could in the new Windows XP Service Pack 2, but that the definitive solution to the problem wouldn't arrive until 2006 with Longhorn, the next and even more super-duper version of Windows.
The problem of these USB devices being misused is very real.
[...]
And many companies are still blissfully unaware this even is a problem, though Microsoft now has two years to educate them in time for their Longhorn ultimate solution. By two years from now, you can bet there won't be a PC user in the U.S. who isn't aware of how USB devices can be used to steal data.
[...]
By the time Longhorn ships, Microsoft wants there to be available a whole new generation of PCs and devices designed for Longhorn. Oh, you'll be able to upgrade your 2004 or 2005 PC to Longhorn, but it will never work quite as well as a new
2006 PC actually designed to run the OS. This is called marketing, folks, and it is what keeps us buying new PCs and other electronic devices over and over again. Most of the value of Longhorn to Microsoft isn't that they get to sell us a shrink-wrapped OS upgrade, but that they'll force most of us over a year or so to buy whole new computers.
Yeah, but where does Linux come in to this?
[...]
There IS a new USB standard in the works and it is at the heart of Microsoft's sudden interest in USB security. Co-developed with Intel, the new USB standard specifically excludes Linux and probably OS X devices as well. I'm told the
Intel folks are quite embarrassed about this, but feel powerless to do anything about it. The new standard will be sold to USB device makers as a chance to replace every device they've already sold, and PC makers will be told they can do the same with every desktop. But for non-Windows computers the likely result will be that Windows-standard USB devices will no longer be compatible, which means there will have to be two USB standards, and the non-Windows variety will have lower sales volume and therefore higher prices. Going further, the PC standard will lead to motherboards that will be hostile to Linux, and will likely mean that loading Linux will result in a PC with inoperative USB ports. This, too, could mean dual
motherboard standards, again with the Windows variety having higher volumes and lower prices.
[...]
This hardly means the end for Linux, but it shows that Microsoft has finally some leverage against Linux beyond fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040916.html
....I don't know if that article is accurate of course but don't shoot the messenger. ;)
How Microsoft Plans to Use a New USB Standard to Cripple Linux
Maybe you noticed last week that Microsoft had suddenly discovered that portable USB devices were a threat to data security. Of course, they have always been so, but Microsoft just noticed this out loud last week, saying that they would be dealing with the problem as best they could in the new Windows XP Service Pack 2, but that the definitive solution to the problem wouldn't arrive until 2006 with Longhorn, the next and even more super-duper version of Windows.
The problem of these USB devices being misused is very real.
[...]
And many companies are still blissfully unaware this even is a problem, though Microsoft now has two years to educate them in time for their Longhorn ultimate solution. By two years from now, you can bet there won't be a PC user in the U.S. who isn't aware of how USB devices can be used to steal data.
[...]
By the time Longhorn ships, Microsoft wants there to be available a whole new generation of PCs and devices designed for Longhorn. Oh, you'll be able to upgrade your 2004 or 2005 PC to Longhorn, but it will never work quite as well as a new
2006 PC actually designed to run the OS. This is called marketing, folks, and it is what keeps us buying new PCs and other electronic devices over and over again. Most of the value of Longhorn to Microsoft isn't that they get to sell us a shrink-wrapped OS upgrade, but that they'll force most of us over a year or so to buy whole new computers.
Yeah, but where does Linux come in to this?
[...]
There IS a new USB standard in the works and it is at the heart of Microsoft's sudden interest in USB security. Co-developed with Intel, the new USB standard specifically excludes Linux and probably OS X devices as well. I'm told the
Intel folks are quite embarrassed about this, but feel powerless to do anything about it. The new standard will be sold to USB device makers as a chance to replace every device they've already sold, and PC makers will be told they can do the same with every desktop. But for non-Windows computers the likely result will be that Windows-standard USB devices will no longer be compatible, which means there will have to be two USB standards, and the non-Windows variety will have lower sales volume and therefore higher prices. Going further, the PC standard will lead to motherboards that will be hostile to Linux, and will likely mean that loading Linux will result in a PC with inoperative USB ports. This, too, could mean dual
motherboard standards, again with the Windows variety having higher volumes and lower prices.
[...]
This hardly means the end for Linux, but it shows that Microsoft has finally some leverage against Linux beyond fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040916.html
....I don't know if that article is accurate of course but don't shoot the messenger. ;)
