zlacker

> It’s not impossible to win this fight, we won the fight against Palladium, even with a well-resourced Microsoft combined with the PC industry, if not the NSA and MPAA.

Actually it was a pyrrhic victory, as Microsoft went on to apply their ideas to XBox, Azure Sphere, and now the change is coming back as future Windows hardware requirements for secure workstations via Pluton integration.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2020/11/17/mee...

I bet mostly UNIX focused folks haven't noticed that their next PC might have a Pluton CPU on them.

https://www.thurrott.com/hardware/260917/here-come-the-first...

>>pjmlp+(OP)
It isn't for no reason that a lot of people are interested in RISC-V.

>>Anthon+Ac
They are day dreaming if they expect the whole eletronic stack to be open, from thinking rocks all the way to the boot loader.

>>pjmlp+fe
Lots of people work to make their dreams a reality. Some of them succeed.

>>Anthon+kf
You mean like making the Year of Linux Desktop a reality, by shipping Linux VMs running on mainstream OSes?

>>pjmlp+fe
All you have to believe is that there is a market for alternative tech stacks, and the embargo on exporting CPUs and CPU tech to China is basically guaranteeing that outcome. That’s the thing about totalitarianism, there can only be one.

>>toxik+Pr
Actually an interesting point here. What will happen if USA sanctions your country? Can WEI stop working by remotely killing it?

>>pjmlp+Uf
There’s enormous momentum with closed source computing. I think that’s an amazing step in the right direction, as it lowers the barrier of entry for someone to try out Linux.

>>pjmlp+Uf
Year of Linux Desktop is here, if you want to use it. Just choose hardware with it preinstalled.

>>fsflov+oE
The success of macOS and WSL, kind of prove the point that isn't what most people care about.

>>pjmlp+EK
It doesn't. The problem is you can't go in a shop and buy a Linux computer. They're just not there. Also, every school teaches students how to use Windows for some reason. This is a completely unfair competition.

>>fsflov+DQ
Sorry, in German,

https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/acer+swift+1+sf114+34+p91a+...

They have physical stores.

>>pjmlp+(OP)
I believe it was AMD that said they won't activate Pluton functionality by default but allow for enterprise customers to possibly do so.

>>pjmlp+P41
Availability in a store somewhere in the world isn't the same as availability in the common case.

And we've now reached the point that PCs come with Windows for the same reason you can't find a non-"smart" TV anymore. It comes preloaded with spyware, which has a market value to the seller, which makes that device cost less than one with only free software on it.

Sophisticated buyers then take the discount and wipe what it came with, which contributes to alternatives not being widely available, but unsophisticated buyers don't know how to do that and get stuck with the spyware.