Not Scared? TC *Will* Make You Scared

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They won't think, they won't realise, they won't switch. The only things they want are to be left alone and not to have to think. When something is too scary, they dismiss the thought. Then, it's too late.

And what they say is one big BS. If they raise prices, more people will pirate software. And they will raise prices even more. So M$ will be well off and pirates will be well off. Who will be bad off? We. Users.

Yea, same. Guess why I'm not going to step on US soil ever. Perhaps something is already prepared and waiting for me.

Now, they didn't elaborate on one subject enough, which is the Bill bill.

Doesn't everyone know that he dreams of making you pay bills instead of one-time price and upgrades? AFAIK it's not even denied publicly. As they did say, it will be possible to destroy your files if you don't pay a bill. Automatically. Even if it's due to a technical error, it will be deleted and caboom! never to be recovered.

Now, compatibility issues. They will lock out competitors from file formats. Guess the effect! We, users, buying 5 programs doing the same thing only to read foreign files. Or, more probably, everyone just buying from the biggest one, aka M$.

Guess the prices then! Guess the prices when piracy will be nonexistent and technically impossible.

What's more, say goodbye to freeware. It will not be 'trusted'.

Also, the more restrictions they can impose on you, the more the price of full rights will rise. They are already combining copy protection with physically crappy CDs. What's next?

Say goodbye to cheap, quick and easy communicating with people on the net. Either a sea of different formats or one big M$ 'paradise' of total control. Stopping piracy will not be the last wish!

It's like with a man and a woman: they will do as much as they're allowed to. No more, but no less either and you may be sure of it. And well, big corporations are horny little pagans. They don't want 'much', they want 'more'. If it were allowed under law, there would be alliances like M$ + Republican Party (or Democratic, or Liberal, or Commie or whatever) + McDonald + 10 else all tied together and so their products. You wouldn't only have to get whole ****load of M$ products with Windows, also products from M$ certified vassals and pals. Buy Win, vote MrSuckerton, eat McCrapburger, even pray to Pink Rabbit if that were profitable.

I sometimes hope I've really hit the halfway of my life. I don't want to see such a world! I don't!

If it comes, I'll go to the freaking market square and start preaching. I'll get a big robe. Or a fancy uniform. I'll get guns. I'll get gear. I'll lure them in. I'll organise them. I'll teach them. I'll lead them. I'll kick ass. And I mean it. I will. You know I will, don't you?

 

The fact that the article spawning this thread was written by a Mr Anderson (in Aug 2003) makes me laugh.

The Matrix Reloaded

Morpheus:

'Zion! Hear me! It is true, what many of you have heard. The machines have gathered an army, and as I speak that army is drawing nearer to our home.

Believe me when I say we have a difficult time ahead of us. But if we are to be prepared for it, we must first shed our fear of it! I stand here before you now, truthfully unafraid. Why? Because I believe something you do not? No! I stand here without fear because I remember. I remember that I am here not because of the path that lies before me, but because of the path that lies behind me! I remember that for 100 years we have fought these machines. I remember that for 100 years they have sent their armies to destroy us. And after a century of war, I remember that which matters most. We are still here!'

Truth (even candy coated truth) is becoming stranger than fiction. Morpheus' speech may come to be the Linux/OS2/BEOS users defiant rallying cry in 2004.

 

I think a good old fashioned boycott of the companies that are responsible for this outrage should stop it dead in it's tracks...that is, if enough people know about it in time.

 

Mystra - Be sure to take a copy of _Walden_ with you. It seems Thoreau really was ahead of his time.

 

Tal you have found the FAQ on the topic. Has someone forwarded it to you with a doomsday note? This is old. The TCG have been trying this before and failed. It is just to please the entertainment industry from ripping them apart that they keep trying and trying. If they wanted to apply serial numbers and longhorn or whatever is the hype of the day they should have started back in the 70-ties. It will never accomplish more than I wrote in my post above. I see it was a bit too short that reply to be fully understood. Sorry.
Save the rolleyes for someone else.

EDIT; This is more likely a whatnots joke, than an alley topic.

[ September 19, 2003, 13:19: Message edited by: Nobleman ]

 

Well I read about this some time ago, from a big computer geek friend. My first comment was that someone would hack/work out a way around it pretty quick, he was skeptical but he is a devout linux follower, luckily linux isn't involved (woopee).

*Note to self: check any new hardware i buy for TC stuff*

 

Oh really, its not like they are going to implement that sjeezzz

We still have the Open Source Community ya buggers

 

Shoot The G'damn Puppy!

You are missing the fact that Microsoft is attempting to create an international monopoly in the OS and software markets.

To do this it is trying to remove the ability for people to 'not use the MS service'.

MS is trying to convert the PC into an XBox-like format, where only other XBox-like machines can be connected to its network, and only XBox-like titles can be run on it.

This flies in the face of the 'Open Standards' concept of a PC where open standards tried to ensure that all PC equipment and software was compatible. Non compatible equipment was unpopular and disappeared down the same black hole as the Amstrad 'PC'.

Now that MS/AMD/INTEL believe that they have the planet by the orbs, they are going to try and lock the world's population into using their products alone.

Such a cartel might just be powerful enough to manage to do this, especially if they allow their technology to be used by governments and the RIAA, to control every facet of computer use (or abuse as they will put it) in ordinary peoples lives.

All WinAmTel has to do is write into their License Agreements that anyone who does not enable TC is not permitted to use their product. The reasons why people will have no option but to begrudgingly agree to use TC are outlined in Tal's original link.


As a perceptive and intuitive person, Nobleman, you know that people will not readily hand over control of their 'Personal' Computer to WinAmTel.

This is why MS uses stealth and half-truths to slowly incorporate the functionality into its products. I call half-truths from corporate bodies who should know better plain old lies. These half-truths which prevent people from protecting themsevles from MS also prevent them from protecting themselves from hackers that hitch-hike on MS's open communication channels.

You may be highly computer literate and worldly wise, but if MS feeds you half truths then it takes away your ability to choose what services you do and do not use and what information about you and your living/working/shopping habits you choose to share with your 'software vendor'.


Example/proof time I think. Lets take a look at XP shall we?

When you fire up Google, Yahoo, Lycos etc. and do an Internet Search , you are requesting your 'Personal' Computer to contact the search engine provider on the web, which is fine.

When you use Internet Explorer's built in Search Facility it does the same thing, which is still fine.

When you use Windows Explorer's built in search facility to look for files (or file contents) on your 'Personal' Computer , low and behold, it attempts to phone home to sa.windows.com. If an Internet connection is already present Windows Explorer (WE) will piggy-back through IE's connection dlls to covertly slip past any firewall and connect to windows.com .

Admittedly only IE serves up the full contents of your seach to MS. WE only lets them know that you are using the XP search facility, and downloads two XML pages from sa.windows.com. Once you have entered your search details and clicked [Search], WE downloads another two XML pages (based on the search details type, not the actual search details themselves).

This downloading of unnecessary XML code from MS every time you serch your own computer is a service, and can be turned off like any other service.

If MS does not inform its customers that non-internet use of their computer is also monitored unless this service is turned off, where is the choice?

People who dig for answers find only half-truths, and that removes peoples ability to make an educated choice.

No information, other than that you own XP, have an internet connection, your IP address and how often you search your 'Personal' Computer and what sort of searchs you carry out, and at what time of the day or night you work at, all which can be tied in to the records of your other internet use, that is.

WARNING! You cannot disable access to sa.windows.com by adding it to your Hosts file or adware IP blocker list. If you do, then the next time you do a Search Companion search your Windows Explorer program will crash and never work properly ever again. But I suppose that is another choice that other people are free to make, now they know what will happen.

Where do you find this service? You know that cute little animated puppy in WE that says 'I like to fetch things'. Well it doesn't say who exactly it is fetching them for.

Behold, you are in the presence of MicroSatans Lapdog.

It is known as Search Companion, and is really a mini-Internet Explorer executable within WE.

You Shoot the puppy by changing the search type to 'classic' in the Search Companion margin's preferences.

Non IT-literate people will not do this as they will sadly lose the user-friendly interface that SC provides.

Using cute animations to introduce MS spyware/controlware reminds me alot of the movie Screamers.

In programming terms the XML pages at sa.windows.com are what is known as a 'stub'. They are bits of code that don't do much if anything. They are used to allow the main program to continue operating while holding the place for the fully functional code which is to follow at a future time. (Hackers love loose ends like these, given the chance they will ***not on your Nelly***).

If the little puppy is not dealt with he will be allowed to grow into Cerberus, the three headed dog that gaurds the Gates (Bill?) of Hell.

Did anyone reading this actually ever chose to contact MS every time they ran a search on the files on their computer?

Powerful cartels remove choice. Powerful governments are supposed to stop that happening. If they don't, then hackers stop it happening and everyone who is too poor to afford the cartel's prices either becomes a criminal or poorer still through lack of access to the WinAmTel network.

------------------------------------------------

If you do decide that Search Companion is snooping a little to close to home and you are going to turn it off, then please let the last Internet Search that you do using it be for the phrase:

MS will get this message, just like all the others. When the hit count to sa.windows.com drops they should also get its meaning. In this simple way a protest can be made.

[ September 20, 2003, 06:46: Message edited by: Bluin ]

 

The real thing to keep in mind here is that this whole TCPA/Pallidum thing only applies to stuff that comes TCPA enabled. That is, encrypted.

You'll still be able to hammer through Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale. But Brittney Spear's new song, "Poke Me One More Time", will only play with TCPA stuff. The disk/song will come out of the studio encrypted. And, of course, C-Dilla will hammer out stuff for games. And movies.

What I don't like is there's a lot of just automatic stuff going on with the computer I may have passwords and account information on. Even moreso than now; I can't over-ride anything kernal level without using a gateway, which I don't.

Companies (in the States, at least) just can't refrain themselves from selling information to one another; it's good business. What I don't what is the week after I go and get new contact lenses, I'm getting spam and mid-game pop-ups; advertising Boush n' Lombs new stuff.

 

Maybe, maybe not. The technically saavy will not be so ignorant, and I foresee that certain businesses will not appreciate having such a vulnerability in their system (some are more hysterical about security than even the government).

 

And those make up for what percentage of the end users ? I also would like to add: I don't know you people, but I was clueless about this until Tal posted the FAQ. So where all my friends. This does not bides well for the future.

That is the reason why many companies have most terminals disconnected from the outside world (i.e. internet) today as well. Come on, do you seriously believe that banks would leave their most critical data in a place where there would be a minimal chance for a security link ?

 

You won't believe what's been connected to the internet, with the original system passwords.

 

I'm in agreeance with the businesses, and well, if all the Fortune 500 companies decided to boycott MS, fun stuff might start happening.

A lot of businesses, though, use UNIX systems to store any sensitive information, which isn't in this congomerate.

I can say right now that the alliance (between AMD and Intel at least) is in direct violation of the anti-trust laws, so I'm surprised that the government hasn't done anything about this yet.

 

This is all very deep and technical for an old fogey like me, but am I correct if I understand part of the article to mean that, it may be possible that if my computer hardware is not deemed "licensed" by the Fritz chip that the computer may simply fail to work?

It's not my fault that the licenses have expired etc, how would I know? I just go to the shop and buy the hardware I don't understand the technical stuff etc, etc, etc

It seems to me that Microsoft etc want the common man to now take responsibility for hardware and software "licensing" and useability when they can't possibly understand that without having studied it at university.

Am I correct if I understand all this to be "on the web", so if you are not connected, the whole system of TC does not directly affect you?

Confused Khazraj.

 

No, Khazraj, none of what you have said is correct. Your statements are uninformed and confused.

It is through no fault of your own of course. This is precisely how MS wants you to be, so that you will qualify as a member of TC's primary target audience. Lambs to the slaughter :sigh:

Once TC has been sold to you, and the millions of other people who are currently blissfully ignorant of the possible abuses of power that TC introduces, then I too will have to use WinAmTel TC hardware and software if I want to still be able to communicate with you. (You won't 'trust' me otherwise).

I will have to accept the all of the 'Big Brother' problems and costs that come with TC if I want to use new software, play new games and seek new information from the internet.

MS is counting on people not caring how TC works, or who it leaves behind, so long as it works for those people that can afford it.

In order for MS's plan to work of course, SCO must kill or assume control of Linux.

Let the games begin.

[ September 21, 2003, 05:46: Message edited by: Bluin ]

 

@Tal

Exactly why I think, it belongs in whatsnot. I will repeat that if they wanted to do something about it, they should have started in the 70-ties. The TCG is a drinking club as PC Magazine has described them. I am very well aware of the fatal consequences. They are as irrelevant to note as they are plain obvious. Simply adds to the madness of the joke. So again what is the Fuzz? It will not accomplish anything else than what I wrote in my first post. That is soley my opinion, but I belive I have followed TCG steps quite close for quite some time. OF course I will eat my PC if the public embrace all of TCG's maniac ideas. That is a given.

PS
I have spend much more than 10 seconds on the issue, but I guess you've hit a streak of exaggeration to match your rolleyes. I am sorry that my first post was very vague, I thought I made that clear in the second one. I guess I was wrong.

[ September 22, 2003, 01:13: Message edited by: Nobleman ]

 

Bluin.

So what can I do about it other than get cranky and freak out?

As you said, uninformed and ignorant.

Hmmm...

 

If you have an old and crappy (unused) computer lying about (a lot of people do after upgrading to play NWN) and a bit of spare time then try and get your hands on a freeware copy of Linux.

Installing the OS will be tricky. Most people do it three or four times, with different configurations each time, just to get the hang of the installation procedure.

Once running it will feel as though you have stepped back in time, to the days of Windows 3.11.

The X Desktop you choose to run (there are lots, all different) will take ages to get used to. Its like learning the interface of a new sim game. (Although the Enlightenment Destop has been hailed as a thing of beauty).

Try installing a freeware office suite and using it for a bit. Play around with any other free Linux programs that take your fancy (there are hundreds. Most are at the same level that similiar Windows software was at in 1993).

If the computer is up to it, it is even possible to install the free Linux version of NWN (Purchase of Win version required). If the computer is crappy you can still run the NWN server on it.

Once you get all this working switch off the computer and never go near it again. You will have gained an understanding of why, with a bit of government support and development Linux could easily replace Windows.

You will understand why Linux is an OS 'for the people by the people'. You will understand why MS is so afraid that its virtual millions could disappear overnight.

From 3.11 to 98 to XP are not such big steps. Especially when you consider that Linux's foundations are more stable and secure than Windows.

MS is at war with Linux. It is a war they cannot win out in the open and by themselves, hence MS's pretence that it is fighting the RIAA's battle.

The means of encrypting data now enjoys special legal protection thanks to the DMCA. MS intends to hijack this legislation to stop alternative operating systems from reading Win/Am/Tel/RIAA software.

This is not the future. It has already begun, with the prosecution of a boy that wrote a linux driver to read otherwise unreadable encrypted movie DVDs.

If Win/Am/Tel/RIAA call the new system the common generic name of TC, whilst each pushs their own agenda, then confusion will ensue, the computer-using public will be divided and conquered.

The idea of TC may have been around for years, but now, five years after the DMCA passed into law, all the DMCA's probationary periods have elapsed, thereby giving Win/Am/Tel/RIAA the unrestricted and unchallangable ability to bring TC into being (by hijacking anti-decryption legislation).

When the time comes and the new TC chips appear, then hopefully a new Linux-friendly CPU chip maker will also appear (possibly in China). It will then be up to the people to decide whether to use TC or Linux/BEOS etc.

At this point, anyone who has taken the time to work through the difficulties of using Linux will at least stop and think before they hand MS even more power over their use of computer technology. I was wrong to say 'Lambs to the slaughter house', it should have been 'Lambs to the shearing shed'.

@Nobleman TC is not just an abstract idea that will never happen, the X-Box is MS's prototype Palladium machine. MS has refused to provide a signed loader to enable Linux to be legally loaded on to the X-Box.

Every version of the X-Box to date has been hacked, and made to run Linux. If MS catches the creators of the hacks or chip mods, then it sues them. There are reports on the net that X-Box Internet Updates target and delete(without user permission) any unsigned software on the X-Box.

Original X-Box Chip mod case

Latest rasberry blown at MS's secure copy protection system.

News about the latest version of Linux for the X-Box

X-Box is called a console even though its just a TC PC. X-Box Consoles are sold at a loss. MS loses hundreds of millions of dollars every year through selling its X-Boxes below the cost of manufacturing them (which is why they make ideal cheap Linux boxes). MS can currently carry those costs because of the magnitude of its OS sales.

MS can write off the losses as R&D costs because when MS finally succeeds in developing an unhackable X-Box it will port that technology into every Win/Am/Tel machine, and thereby stop Linux being loaded (in the same manner that it refuses to allow Linux on the X-Box).

By creating a monopoly in this fashion, MS can subsidize the sale of WinAmTel machines, putting any manufacturer who does not incorporate TC in their CPU out of business, all because it will be guaranteed that only the MS OS will be able to run on the WinAmTel.

Currently all that is standing between MS and this Doomsday scenario is hackers who are prepared to face prosecution rather than allow a corporation, any corporation, to fleece them or to tell them how to use their own property. But hackers that reveal holes in MS's TC prototype hardware are only stalling the process, not stopping it.

Rant time.

A computer is a tool which can be used for both legal and illegal activities. So is a crowbar. Why should Win/Am/Tel/RIAA have the right to control how we use our computers. It is no different than the guy at the hardware store having the right to control how you use your crowbar.

How can MS cite possible piracy as reason for TCs introduction on all new PCs? What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

With TC MS hopes that there will quickly be only one hardware store in town, and that you won't be able to buy (rent) a crowbar unless you comply with Hardware Guy's terms. He won't need the right to control how you use the crowbar, he will be able to do it simply because he can.

End Rant.

[ September 22, 2003, 07:28: Message edited by: Bluin ]