Monday, June 24, 2002
Microsot's Palladium Push
Posted by Jason Dunn in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 08:04 AM
http://www.msnbc.com/news/770511.asp
Newsweek.com published a very interesting article about a radically different approach to computing security. It's dubbed "Palladium", and it's something you should read about - I hadn't heard of it at all before this article, but it's refreshing to see Microsoft paying attention to what's going on in the world out there - it's ugly, and there are a lot of people that want to damage the data on your computer. The question is, will Microsoft pull this off in a way that works? Or will it be another Microsoft Bob 1.0?
"Here's something that cries for a safeguard: the world of computer bits. An endless roster of security holes allows cyber-thieves to fill up their buffers with credit-card numbers and corporate secrets. It’s easier to vandalize a Web site than to program a remote control. Entertainment moguls boil in their hot tubs as movies and music are swapped, gratis, on the Internet. Consumers fret about the loss of privacy. And computer viruses proliferate and mutate faster than they can be named.
Computer security is enough of a worry that the software colossus Microsoft views it as a threat to its continued success: thus the apocalyptic Bill Gates memo in January calling for a “Trustworthy Computing” jihad. What Gates did not specifically mention was Microsoft’s hyperambitious long-range plan to literally change the architecture of PCs in order to address the concerns of security, privacy and intellectual property. The plan, revealed for the first time to NEWSWEEK, is... Palladium, and it’s one of the riskiest ventures the company has ever attempted. Though Microsoft does not claim a panacea, the system is designed to dramatically improve our ability to control and protect personal and corporate information. Even more important, Palladium is intended to become a new platform for a host of yet-unimagined services to enable privacy, commerce and entertainment in the coming decades. “This isn’t just about solving problems, but expanding new realms of possibilities in the way people live and work with computers,” says product manager Mario Juarez." Source: pt
Newsweek.com published a very interesting article about a radically different approach to computing security. It's dubbed "Palladium", and it's something you should read about - I hadn't heard of it at all before this article, but it's refreshing to see Microsoft paying attention to what's going on in the world out there - it's ugly, and there are a lot of people that want to damage the data on your computer. The question is, will Microsoft pull this off in a way that works? Or will it be another Microsoft Bob 1.0?
"Here's something that cries for a safeguard: the world of computer bits. An endless roster of security holes allows cyber-thieves to fill up their buffers with credit-card numbers and corporate secrets. It’s easier to vandalize a Web site than to program a remote control. Entertainment moguls boil in their hot tubs as movies and music are swapped, gratis, on the Internet. Consumers fret about the loss of privacy. And computer viruses proliferate and mutate faster than they can be named.
Computer security is enough of a worry that the software colossus Microsoft views it as a threat to its continued success: thus the apocalyptic Bill Gates memo in January calling for a “Trustworthy Computing” jihad. What Gates did not specifically mention was Microsoft’s hyperambitious long-range plan to literally change the architecture of PCs in order to address the concerns of security, privacy and intellectual property. The plan, revealed for the first time to NEWSWEEK, is... Palladium, and it’s one of the riskiest ventures the company has ever attempted. Though Microsoft does not claim a panacea, the system is designed to dramatically improve our ability to control and protect personal and corporate information. Even more important, Palladium is intended to become a new platform for a host of yet-unimagined services to enable privacy, commerce and entertainment in the coming decades. “This isn’t just about solving problems, but expanding new realms of possibilities in the way people live and work with computers,” says product manager Mario Juarez." Source: pt
