[Sussex] BBC Video Downloads

[linux at oneandoneis2.org]

Quoting Steve Dobson <steve at dobson.org>:
> Palladium, Treacherous Computing (TC), call it what you will, I agree
> that it is an abusive technology.

Actually, from what I understand about TC, I'm not even convinced by  
that much.

Many of the arguments people give for why it's a bad thing are  
actually untrue. Things like "You won't be able to install Linux on a  
Trusted Computing machine" are popular claims that are simply wrong.

Other arguments seem valid on the surface but fail the Reality Test -  
I believe it's true that MS could use it to make a new document format  
that only their software could read, for instance, by using TC to  
encrypt it.

But MS is already losing anti-trust lawsuits and facing demands that  
they open up more; they're struggling desperately to get their latest  
XML standard to seem even credible; and governments worldwide are  
switching to ODF anyway because they won't accept vendor lock-in - is  
this really an environment in which MS stand any chance of succeeding  
with an "ultimate proprietary format"?

And with community Linux distributions working to incorporate TC  
because of the valid, useful things they realize it can do - like  
gauranteeing that the kernel you boot up with really is YOUR kernel  
and not a cracked one - even the "TC is only being incorporated  
because Big Media wants to own your PC" arguemnt just doesn't hold  
water - http://www.gentoo.org/news/20050202-trustedgentoo.xml and the  
link at the bottom are worth a read on that score, IMHO.

The biggest problem I have with TC is how hard it is to sort out the  
truth from the fiction in order to actually have an informed opinion  
about it. . .

Dominic