Windows Vista may not meet TCG standards
According to Techspot, Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista, will not meet the very TCG (Trusted Computing Group) standards the company helped to formulate. The essential idea is that you create a computer from the ground up securely, with a core hardware “root of trust” called a Trusted Platform Module (TPM).
However, there are problems. Slashdot, quoting from a comment at ZDNet, highlighted the downside of the deal : “The same system that protects spyware from accessing your data files might also stop you from copying audio and video files. The same system that ensures that all the patches you download are legitimate might also prevent you from, well, doing pretty much anything.”
Justin Mann at Techspot puts it succinctly : “I see it as overly intrusive, and potentially a way for many companies to vendor-lock their customers.”
He continues : “What happens when the largest software company in the world doesn’t support the very standards for that complex chain they helped create? That’s right, the ’support’ implemented by Vista becomes the de-facto standard, and what was supposed to be a secure ideal becomes frustration. Microsoft has not yet released a statement regarding this, so it may all be bunk ~ but I’m not a believer.”
