Microsoft drops Palladium from Longhorn

[zulu9812]

from http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/9660?t=1083885065?t=1083885116
With the increasing rate of viruses, software, music & video piracy and system break-ins over the past number of years, Microsoft aimed to tackle all these problems in its next operating system codenamed Longhorn. They started work on its trusted computing project codenamed Palladium a few years back, but due to its controversial issues Microsoft then changed the name to NGSCB (Next-Generation Secure Computing Base). Unlike previous Windows Upgrades, NGSCB would require new secure hardware to operate on as well as require applications to be rewritten to take advantage of its NGSCB API Set.



Now Microsoft has now decided to postpone its NGSCB as it would put too much pressure on trying to roll out secure chips as well as get software developers to rewrite their software in time for the LongHorn release, thus Microsoft went back to the drawing board. They have now decided to use NX (No Execute) security technology which will also be supported in upcoming service packs for Windows XP and Server 2003 as well as the 64-bit editions of Windows XP and Server 2003. While NX support will help prevent against buffer-overrun attacks in the newer AMD and Intel chips, it lacks all the secure DRM technology that NGSCB aims to offer. Microsoft’s decision will surely not please the recording and movie industries. Thanks to jef195 for submitting the following news via our news submit :



After a year of tackling the Windows security nightmare, Microsoft has killed its Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) project and later this year plans to detail a revised security plan for Longhorn, the next major version of Windows, company executives said.

On Tuesday, Microsoft executives confirmed that NGSCB will be canned. The project, dreamed up with Intel in 2002, was once code-named Palladium.

"We're evaluating how these NGSCB capabilities should be integrated into Longhorn, but we don't know exactly how it'll be manifested. A lot of decisions have yet to be made," said Mario Juarez, product manager in Microsoft's Security and Technology Business Unit. "We're going to come out later this year with a complete story."

Juarez said the project is being shelved because customers and ISV partners didn't want to rewrite their applications using the NGSCB API set.

Though Microsoft plans to use the NGSCB "compartmentalizing" technology in future versions of Windows, the company is moving swiftly to support No Execute (NX) security technology in newer AMD and Intel processors. NX reduces memory buffer overruns that many hackers exploit to insert malicious code into Windows and allows developers to mark pages as nonexecutable.

Thank god...

 

[Plexus]

F*** yes!

 

[Archer 007]

Yay! Best news of the year!

 

[hbdragon88]

Cheers to Microsoft for removing this from Longhorn.

 

[Ankka]

Yay.

 

[Vancouver 2010]

I didn't even know it was in! Meh...

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Any such decision is welcome, but I've stopped trusting Microsoft a long time ago

 

[t92300]

Any such decision is welcome, but I've stopped trusting Microsoft a long time ago

Same here

still stuck with win98

 

[steviejay]

sorry for my ignorance. but could anyone enlighten me to what Palladium is.... or well was since its been dropped?

 

[ainwood]

Palladium was a method by which M$ and hardware manufacturers were going to control your PC. Everytime you started <any> program, the OS was going to send details of the app and your hardware to a central server, to check whether the licence was valid, and therefore whether it would allow you to run it. However, the difference between this and other security measures is that this checking was actually built in the hardware (CPU) and executed by the OS.

People got annoyed about it because of issues like not being able to run programs they wrote themselves (or having to get them registered), not being able to play their own legally-purchased music cds etc.

Some more info:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=27230
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=30717
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=59253
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=30023

 

[steviejay]

Oh, Thank F***!!!

thats quite worrying actually. Thank god its been canned