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[nop_90]

A cute story
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

[dink]

The proponents of this scheme have given it names such as “trusted computing” and “palladium”. We call it “treacherous computing”, because the effect is to make your computer obey companies instead of you. This was implemented in 2007 as part of Windows Vista; we expect Apple to do something similar. In this scheme, it is the manufacturer that keeps the secret code, but the FBI would have little trouble getting it.

What Microsoft keeps is not exactly a password in the traditional sense; no person ever types it on a terminal. Rather, it is a signature and encryption key that corresponds to a second key stored in your computer. This enables Microsoft, and potentially any web sites that cooperate with Microsoft, the ultimate control over what the user can do on his own computer.

Vista also gives Microsoft additional powers; for instance, Microsoft can forcibly install upgrades, and it can order all machines running Vista to refuse to run a certain device driver. The main purpose of Vista's many restrictions is to make DRM that users can't overcome.

Long live lunux.

[perkiset]

Actually, I'm rather a yellow-pad, calculator and pencil kind of guy  they can never take that away from me

[jammaster82]

Once i developed a system with microsoft crap that was
under an MSDN license and i did it all offline on a private network.

Everything ran awesome until i got the internet months later
and the machines hit up the Master Control Program and told them
i was using an expired MSDN licensed SQL server 7.0 and it systematically
hosed all machines with that software on it and i lost all my work and all my
data after clicking ok to 'this is unlicensed software' message.