By Jon Newton

The RIAA attack on p2p file sharers is serious, but it's far from being the worse danger confronting the online community.

That's the opinion of Samuel Carpentier from Quebec in Canada.

Far more threatening is the Trusted [that's a joke] Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA) which will, "change the face of the internet," says Carpentier, a 24-year-old computer programming student.

"Your biggest concern should be Microsoft with their Palladium, Intel processors and the 'Fritz' chip.

"Don’t get me wrong - I even own a hub on the Direct Connect Network. But times change and the RIAA are a drop in the bucket. They are nothing compared to this new so-called 'technology'."

I think Samuel has it right.

I wrote the story below last year. But nothing has changed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This June [2002] Microsoft started talking publicly about "Palladium," a system that combines software and hardware controls for "trusted" computing and which it hopes to have in operation by 2004.

In Microsoft terms, 'trusted' means total system control for Byll and the Boyz and in fact, Palladium looks a lot like a variation on the Broadcast Flag scheme through which the movie, electronics and record companies want to use purpose-built technology to make sure consumers [you] can't see, hear or use anything not owned, or approved, by them.

If Broadcast Flag ever gets beyond the Hollywood Wet Dream stage, and you have the temerity to go over the bounds set by the entertainment industry, your computer will both go on strike AND turn you, and your transgression, in.

Microsoft and, of course, the developers who love Microsoft, say Palladium is GOOD and will allow them to tenderly look after you by keeping those bad old hackers out and defeating those evil on- and offline pirates.

Because, cut to the bone, PPC (Palladium Personal Computer) police technologies wouldn't allow PPCs to run unauthorised applications or do unauthorised things.

The Big Question is: Why should you trust "trusted computing" technologies, or the companies which develop and/or use them?

To say these same PPCs could easily be configured to allow public (and private, for that matter) agencies and vendors access to private and personal data on your computer, and/or to report back to them every time you do something that isn't on the 'officially approved' list, isn't paranoid.

It's the way things could, and almost certainly will, be.

Bill Gates was talking to business school students at the University of Washington and was quoted in the the July 20, 1998, Fortune Magazine as saying:

"Although about three million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."

The next decade is now.

Cambridge University professor Ross Anderson has a fantastic TCPA / Palladium FAQ here and in it, says:

"Making the Chinese pay for software' has been a big thing for Bill; with Palladium, he can tie each PC to its individual licenced copy of Office, and with TCPA he can tie each motherboard to its individual licenced copy of Windows. TCPA will also have a worldwide blacklist for the serial numbers of any copies of Office that get pirated.

"Finally, Microsoft would like to make it more expensive for people to switch away from their products (such as Office) to rival products (such as OpenOffice). This will enable them to charge more for upgrades without making their users jump ship."

Right. And does anyone think Byll and the Boyz will restrict their attentions solely to people in China?

And while you're worrying, don't forget the TCPA (Trusted Computing Platform Alliance), an oxymoron if ever there was one. It's the hardware Microsoft will build on.

Formed by Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel and Microsoft in 1999, its mission statement says, "Through the collaboration of HW [hardware], SW [software], communications, and technology vendors, drive and implement TCPA specifications for an enhanced HW and OS based trusted computing platform that implements trust into client, server, networking, and communication platforms."

Naturally, you need a password to find out who the current TCPA member companies and advisors are. However, if by some chance you could leaf through their address book, it would probably look a lot like like the list at the end of this piece.

And the TCPA BOA (Board of Advisors), a "voluntary, independent group that reviews the TCPA specification and establishes confidence in the output of the TCPA", could well resemble the BOA's of November 22, 2002, who were:

Professor Dan Boneh, Stanford University; Professor David J. Farber, University of Pennsylvania, Alfred S Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunications Systems; Professor Bart Preneel, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; and, Professor Vijay Varadharajan, University of Western Sydney. [NOTE: Boa - large snake.]

OK. And where would the TCPA be without Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina? He's been going blue trying to get the US Congress to make TCPA mandatory in all consumer electronics.

"At the heart of TCPA is a new chip added to motherboards, which have been affectionately dubbed 'Fritz chips' after the good Senator," posts Dr John on FreeRepublic.com, going on, "But there is a double meaning here, since you can expect computers based on TCPA technology to go on the fritz far more often than their non-TCPA counterparts. Eventually, Intel and AMD say they will incorporate TCPA into future processors. Lucky us.

"Palladium is the software end of the business, and will be built-into future versions of Windows. The basic idea is that the Fritz chip will constantly check the machine state, and the 'authorizations' for the OS and each application on the machine. The OS will only boot if nothing is 'amiss', that means no 'unauthorized components or content'. The spin they are putting on this draconian move is that 'PCs won't necessarily get faster, just more secure'.

The bottom line is this, adds Dr John:

"Computer and software makers are desperate to lock down the ability of modern computers until they are nothing more than paid content providing systems. This is not what computers were made for, they were made to be multifunctional, programmable devices with almost unlimited capabilities. Capabilities that the MPAA (motion picture assoc. of America) and RIAA (recording industry assoc. of America) want eliminated ASAP.

"Finally, will TCPA create a black market for Fritz-less motherboards, or will it just make the last, fastest, Fritz-less computers the most popular on earth? I can imagine a big run on the last round on non-TCPA hardware as soon as it becomes known that all motherboards after a certain date must have the Fritz chip installed."

Right, Dr J. But there may be a lot more to it.

Rather than leading to a Big Brother World, as a lot of people fear, the agonized posturing from the conglomerates as they desperately, but hopelessly, try to hang on and hang in is instead driving the development of brand new, highly innovative technologies and systems from independents.

Millions of individuals from around the world - not groups, but individuals, and many of them still in school, or even younger - are doing something no one has ever done before. They're literally compelling the private and public sectors to re-think operational models that have kept them in power and kept them rich for all these years.

Consumers of all ages are now in the driving seat. They're calling the shots and Hollywood rises or falls on how well it listens. But so far, it's making too much noise to hear anything but itself.

But that's good because while the RIAA, MPAA and the other dinosaurs struggle to maintain the status quo, the rest of world is moving ahead in exciting new directions.

Nature does indeed abhor a vacuum.


TCPA members:

360 Degree Web; 3Com Corporation; Access360; Acer; ActivCard Inc; Adhaero Technologies; Adobe
Systems Inc; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD); æSec Corporation; Aladdin Knowledge Systems; Algorithmic Research Ltd; American Express Company; American Megatrends Inc; Argus Security Corporation; Atmel Corporation; ATMEL Rousset; Authentium, Inc; Autotrol Uruguaya S.A.;

timore Technologies Ltd; BERGDATA AG; BindView Development; Blueice Research; Broadcom Corporation;

Craig Ltd; Caveo Technology LLC; CE-Infosys Pte Ltd; Cerberus Information Security Limited; Certicom Corp; Check Point Software Technologies Ltd; CHECKFLOW; Chrysalis-ITS; Cimarron Systems Incorporated; CipherKey Exchange Corporation; Cloakware Corporation; Communication Intelligence Corporation; Compagnie Européenne de Développement SA; Compal Electronics, Inc; Compaq Computer Corporation; Computer Elektronik Infosys GmbH; Crypto AG; Cygate ESM Oy; CYLINK Corporation;

Dell Computer Corporation; DICA Technologies Inc; DigiGAN, Inc; Digital Innotech Co; Digital Persona Inc; Discretix Technologies Ltd;

e-PCguard.com, Inc; eCryp, Inc; Eltan Comm B.V.; Enova Technology Corporation; Ensure Technologies; Entrust Technologies Ltd; ERACOM Pty Ltd; Ethentica; Excalibur Solutions, Inc;

FARGOS Development, LLC; FINGLOQ AB; First Access, Inc; Fortress Technologies In; Fujitsu Limited; Fujitsu-Siemens-Computers;

Gateway, Inc; Gemplus Corporation; GLOBEtrotter Software; Hewlett-Packard Company; Hitachi, Ltd. PC Div;

HyperSecur Corporation;

I/O Software, Inc; ICSA.net; ID Tech; IdentAlink Limited; Infineer Inc; Infineon Technologies Corporation; Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte Ltd; InfoCore, Inc; Insyde Software Corp; Integrity Sciences, Inc; Intel Corporation; Interlok Technologies L.L.C.; International Business Machines (IBM) International Service Consultants Ltd; Internet Dynamics, Inc; Internet Security Systems; InterTrust Technologies; Iomega Corporation;

Kasten Chase Applied Researc; Keycorp Ltd; Keyware Technologies, Inc;

Lanworks Technologies Co; Legend (SHENZHEN) R&D Center, Legend Group Ltd; Lexign; Liquid Audio, Inc; Litronic Inc; LOGISIL Consulting;

M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers; M3S Enterprises Mike and Marc; Macrovision Corporation; Massive Media Group; Media DNA Incorporated; Medialogic Co., Ltd; Miaxis Biometrics Co; Micron Electronics, Inc; Microsoft Corporation; Mitac International Corporation; Mobile-Mind, Inc; Motorol;

National Semiconductor; nCipher Inc; NDS Limited; NEC Corporation; Net Nanny Software International; NetActive Inc; NetAtmosphere Inc; NetOctave, Inc; NetSecure Software Canada; Network Associates, Inc; New Trend Technology Inc; Novell, Inc; nVidia;

O2Micro; Open Source Asia;

PC Guardian; Philips Semiconductors; Phoenix Technologies, Ltd; Pijnenburg Custom Chips B.V.; Precision Digital Hardware; Pricewaterhouse Coopers; Prism Resources, Inc; Pro-Team Computer Corp; Protect Data Security Inc;

Rainbow Technologies, Inc; Raytheon Company; Raz-Net Inc; Redstrike B.V.; RSA Security, Inc;

SafeNet, Inc; SAFLINK Corporation; SAGEM MORPHO, Inc; SAGRELTO Enterprises, Inc; SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO; SAS Institute; Schlumberger, Smart Cards; Science Applications International C; Scienton Technologies Inc; SCM Microsystems; Sectra Communications AB; Securant Technologies (RSA Security); Secure Computing Corporation; Siemens A; Softex, Inc; SPYRUS, Inc; SSH Communications Security, Inc; Standard Microsystems Corporation; STMicroelectronics; Symantec Corporation; Symbol Technologies, Inc;

Texar Software Corp; Thales e-Security, Inc; TimeCertain, LLC; Titan Systems; Toshiba Corporation; Trend Micro, Inc; Tripwire, Inc; Trispen Technologies; TrueTime Inc; TruSec Solutions; Trustpoint Corporation; TVN Entertainment Corporation;

Ubizen; Utimaco Safeware AG;

ValiCert Inc; VeraSafe, Inc; Veridicom, Inc; Verisign, Inc; Viewpoint Engineering; Voltaire Advanced Data Security Lt; and,

Wave Systems Corp; Wincor Nixdorf; WinMagic, Inc; WinVista Corporation.

Whats worse than Pallishit?

Microsuck themselves.

I HATE THAT STUPID ""SOFTWARE"" ANTITRUST-ANTICOMPETETIVE-BUYOUT-IDEASTEALING COMPANY!!

All of M$'s GUI ideas were stolen from many opensource window managers (KDE,GNOME,*), as well as Apple's OSX.

Just about everything this piece of shit software company made was not M$ innovation. Its junk if M$ created an idea.

Now they think the public lives in the land of kindergarten, XP looks like something they would put on a machine for the preschool computers. Its garbage, bloated, just plain shit.

When M$ dissipears, I can finally rest knowing their bullshit wont infest my future.

MCSE = Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

I am pleased to see that Apple is not on that list.

Same here. Although to be perfectly frank, even if Palladium ends up on every computer sold at retail in America, why would I bother, then, to get a new computer?

My wordprocessor works with my old computer (300mhz) - even faster with Linux. The only reason to constantly upgrade these days are new operating systems (which I've already eschewed on the windows platform) and new games.

And I might as well just get a console for that - I don't play games already.

I've got a mac so it's unlikely that Trusted Computing will come to my platform, but if it does, I'm quite content with the way it works now and the things it does now.

People were up in arms over the Pentium II's security chip... now that we have a republican administration with ties to Big Media, this is slipping under the radar.

The other thing about the computer chip is that, well, illicit data is one of the Internet's killer apps. You think that people would bother to buy a new computer if it couldn't do all the things it could do with the old one? Forget it - upgrades mean you do more with it, you do it faster, or you do it better - but only a bad engineer sacrifices functionality for speed.

If I wanted a computer that just let me write term papers, I would have stuck with my Brother word processor.

fucking shame i'm switching to linux only for the sole purpose of stomping on and burning my MS software so I can videotape it and send it to their command center or whatever.

too bad I've never used MS office on my PC before, only on campus computers. don't own it, never will.

a lot of us already have, or will eventually get faster computers. Tell me, once you get a 2ghz (or even 1.2ghz) cpu, why would you really need another one for the next 4+ years? My brand spanking new comp will have linux only. i can boycott cd's and computers at the same time. bite me. i piss on fritz chips. never in my life, assholes.

How will the RIAA and the MPAA find out that I'm downloading movies and music for free? Does that also include all of the porn companies?

Well as I said before I'm going to storm every used PC warehouse, every manufacturing plant, and every bargin website I can find. I'll empty my bank account on the crap free harware, sell some and keep a sizable amount for myself so I can keep going. Linux, DOS and if any Windows the old ones that Bill "anti-Christ" Gates forgot how to manipulate will be my OS's of choice. You get rich and have a big company and suddenly you're a god that is above all laws, knows more than anyone who works 9 to 5, and thinks he/she can command the masses in what ever way you see fit. Come to my doorstep and stare down the barrel of my .357 while I scratch my finger on the trigger with the safety off. We'll see how much of a god you are then.

That sound's good to me. How about a 12 gauge shotgun for the RIAA and MPAA?

The only reason I have XP(Proff, d/l, cracked) is because I play alot of games.
The only reason I left win98, is because it is a broken OS.
As XP is stable and actually works, I see no need to "uppgrade".
I do have linux, and if it wasn't for the games, it'd be all I need.

We hate Microsoft. Please. As if MS is doing this all alone. Thank goodness Apple isn't on this list. Please. Apple is working very hard to develop a propietary version that will run only on Macs.

I've been mentioning Palladium for WELL over a year now. Intel is far more the black hat here than MS or anyone else. MS is headed there already because they want to turn their data trees into relational databases, simplifying file structures, storage, and searching. The security bit is a nice side effect.

Intel put phone-home controls in their chips as early as their original PIII's. Don't believe me? If you have an old pIII do a google search on it, and you will find out how to disable it.

Also remember, they don't care if you are downloading tunes and flicks, they care that you are OFFERING material for download. Kill the sources and you kill the problem. It's far far easier to find uploaders than downloaders. We need an anonymizer.

I just bought a new shuttle computer (those ultra small ones) that has a 3.5 Ghz proccessor and 512MB RAM. There is no reason for me to upgrade for a long time. And as far as windows, I am running 2000 which in my opinion is the best that Windows is going to get. Like spikester said, XP looks like it was designed for little kids, and whatever DRM OS Microsoft wants to roll out with later will be a waste of there time. The next operating system on my computer is Linux, or I may consider turning to the Apple platform.

Hail Mp3!!!

Time for the usual speech on this technology.

1. TCPA is basicly a tamper proofing system. Its designed to stop unauthorised people, such as the owner of a computer, makeing changes that the hardware manufacturers dont approve such as reflashing the firmware to disable copy protectinon. It also supports "secure storage", storage which can be read and modified only by authorised programs. The user doesn't decide which programs are authorised. This is used to store both information the user wants kept secret (personal files) and information someone else doesn't want the user to access (licenseing information). The Palladium system, which Ms has now renamed the NGSCB because Palladium was getting bad publicity, uses this "secure" hardware to build a tamperproof OS.

2. Noone would want to buy this. That doesn't mean people wont buy it. Walk into any computer store and lok around. Do you see any computers that dont come with windows XP preinstalled? If you ask for an empty system the store will probably not be too cooperative. In the same way, once NGSCB is complete MS will ensure it is preinstalled on all new computers. Everyone upgrades sooner or later. That 3.5GHz system, 512M ram and (est) 120G hard drive may look good now, but as computers get more powerful applications get more demanding. Games even more so.

3. Microsoft will use the NGSBC as part of its war on open source. MS dont just dislike OSS as a competitor. They hate it. Its personal. NGSBC will be propritary of course, and will get people stuck in MS vendor lock in.

Oh, I forgot to mention one important detail. As DRM, TCPA/NGSCB is essentially useless. The whole system still suffers from the BORA flaw. Once one person has broken a protected file, even if they have to go through an entire ebook and screenshot then OCR each page, wire a logic analyser into their sound card or use any other extreme solution like that, the unprotected file will still be spread all over the internet in a few days.

goldenpi

I never heard of the BORA flaw. What is it?

All this new technology on the horizon, so damned exciting. I hope Bill Gates doesn't get run down by a cabbie frustrated with his new paladium chip mapping computer.Microsoft is the new Third Reich, and Gates is the Fuhrer. Sieg Heil Bill!

goldenpi:

I only hope that whoever cracks that code will make it run like a patch so those of us who are not computer savy enough to change the code can do it more easily.

Palladium is another word for hacking. Your not going to own your computer, the software and the hardware companies are going to own it. There won't be nothing you can do on your computer that the software and hardware companies aren't going to know about. This is what you call a secure computer?

Would be like cookies being placed on your computer. They will know what you are using, how you are using it, how many times you have used it, and if you are using any competing software. They might as well stick a camera in your own home to watch you 24/7.

whatever, i just won't buy a new computer when these come out...

Great idea Microsoft! Give people another reason to not use Windows! That's smart.

I can say that when this comes out, I will buy the fastes mobo/cpu that does not contain this, and then overlock the shit out of it. These companies are going to lose alot of money when this hits the market, and I am going to be drinking a beer, cheering and laughing when they all crash to the ground.

I can see in the near future, college kids, or even highschool kids for that matter learning about computers the extreme that goldenpi has just so they can have decent computers and a private life. If the software companies continue to do this (limit comsumers), they will force an underground movement (similare, but likely not as violent as prohibition in the 20s). That's my 2 cents.

BORA = break once, run anywhere. It actually refers to two different flaws in DRM systems. One is that once someone has cracked a DRM system they can write a program do to it so anyone else can decrypt a file as well. The other is that once a specific file is decrypted it can spread through the internet with no restrictions. TCPA addresses the first by using unique keys in each chip, so if a hacker does manage to break their protection they cant run their program on another PC. It does nothing about the second.

I can see a hardware black market appearing, but palladium has ways round this as well. Trusted and certified drivers. Black market hardware wont have certified drivers so palladium will simpley refuse to play protected files through it. Consider the Creative Audigy sound cards. When a protected WMA file is played the digital output is automaticially disabled to stop people connecting a S/PDIF loopback. Some people have digital speakers through, and these people have to rewire their speakers to use analog inputs to listen to protected WMA files.

Kids are unlikely to learn about this low level hacking. How many people under 40 even know asm now? The current trend, largly driven my Microsoft, is to make computers easier to use. Dumb them down. Hide or remove settings that the user isn't expected to understand.

Padillium, ah this shlit again, now this is just a rumer that i heard, but supposedly intel is dropping padillium support, or even efforts to try to support it, mainly because they have better things to do than suppot M$.

Dumbing down the public is bad as a whole, but good for almost all people in the computer feild of business. See for someone like me who builds, upgrades, and teaches people who to use the computer and it's software, if the people try to upgrade their system or build their own, instead of buying one from me, then i loose a coustomer, and this can continue and continue tell the point that I would have to expose more of my secret tricks to gain new coustomers. If they knew nothing a bout computers and wouldn't open their case, then there would always be a need for me. And in everything in society the same principal applies. Why do you think Bill Clinton had millions of U.S. history books rewriten once he entered office? Well to dumb the people down, so he would have more power over them. It isn't even money that drives evil It is POWER, the single most evil and corrupting factor that exists.

I don't like M$ much anymore, good luck getting me to buy/ rum padillium supportive Long Horn when it is released, I'll be sticking to XP pro, which i have cleaned up, the hard way, which may not be totally legal, but then again it's MY computer. I'll be turning to Linux soon (gentoo, or SuSe snot sure yet) to free myself from Micorsoft's clutches. HA ha ha!

just rember in any spying software, ect. "Then again it's MY computer..."

That rumor is untrue.

I have win2k here, and I intend to stick with it for as long as possible. That will not be indefinately however. MS wont support it forever. They are droping NT right now. That suggests starting around 2006 it will get slowly harder to find hardware with 2k drivers. Oh well, theres always VMware.

(The DRM cracker cummunity could really use an open-source version of VMware with a lot of debugging features.)

MS has been makeing computers easier to use since they released DOS, essentially a dumbed-down unix. Their devotion of easy of use, fancy interfaces and as many features as they can fit in is responsible for most of the countless security holes in their software. A reputation like microsofts for insecure software takes a lot of work to form

Microsoft, Intel and most of the media industry see the PC as the STB of the future, a home entertainment hu which plays and rips CDs, playes (but doesn't rip) DVDs, records TV, pipes music to any room in the house, plays games and does almost anything else the family wants it to for entertainment. Intel sees tis as essential for keeping up hardware sales. Once you have a 2GHz system with a gig of ram and a hundred-gig hard drive there isn't really much incentive to upgrade, but getting PCs into the entertainment center position would increase demand for high-spec systems. Microsoft sees it as a very profitable niche with an opportunity to spread into a lot of other markets. Multimedia technology, games, etc. The media industry sees it as an intresting idea, but refuses to release content for an open digital platform. They insist it must be tamper-proof, propritary, full of DRM and restricted to the point where its barely useable. TCPA and NGSCB are Intel and Microsofts attempts to turn the PC into that locked up platform to satisfy the content producers, thus getting them to supply the content needed to turn the PC into an entertainment center and insureing a steady stream of cash from upgrades to MS and intel.

Intel, M$, and all those other greedy companies are just wasting there money.
There will be a crack for Palladium the day after its released. They cant out smart the end users.

Thing is large companies try to upgrade their computers atleast once every 3 to 5 years so they don't fall too far behind. It doesn't look good to your customers when you show them around and your employees are using computers that are 10 years old. So these companies will inevitably buy the NGSCB poisoned computers and if any other companies want to do deals with the infected company that means they will have to have NGSCB computers too. Further more employees that also work for the infected company from home will have to have infected computers at home. Leading to their friends and family having to have infected computers just to read e-mails, receive instant messages, and files etc. So unless business styles and etiquet change (don't hold your breath for that one) this is all likely to come about. Leaving only those who want to remain on the old systems and don't have a reason to comunicate with an infected computer on the machines that are in favor of the Constitution.

In my opinion, if they do this Microsoft will cease to exist. Another company will come in and build a computer that the people want without this Padillium bullshit. The end result will be a world without the likes of Microsoft and maybe we will see wome honest competition for a change.

I'm not sure what to think about this. On one hand, sure.. Paladium would make my system more secure, but that's not EVEN the good part.
I'm wondering tho (and this has been a thought of mine since the paladium thing broke *smirk*)...
Wouldn't it be a good business move to let people PICk what they want? Oh yeah, that's counterproductive and non-dollar generating. I'm with everyone who says this will sound a death knoll for M$ and their cronies.
I run a 1.4G AMD with 512m of RAM and a little tiny 32G hd. I play a lot of games, but I also do some other stuff, like writing my congressman, resumes, and keeping hard copies of lyrics I want from songs I've got on cassette or vinyl.
Sorry, the point is, I'm hoping (wondering) if this will be an OPTION or if this will indeed be THE option (see the difference??) if you want to get a new PC. It would make more sense to just sell this $hit to businesses, they after all are the biggest "privacy" advocates.
hrmm.. I don't know if I made my point, but it's in there.
ttmmm

According to MS and Intel, TCPA/NGSCB will be optional, and disabled by default. If its disabled you simpley cant access protected files. However, they have not said if they intent to keep it like that indefinately. It would be likely that at some point in future the option would be changed to on by default, and at some further point it would be removed altogether.

MS will make this an "option". A MS-option. You can either have it on, or have it off and find you cant open office documents or connect to a windows Pl server.

As lithon described, the fact that noone wants this technology doesn't mean people wont buy it. Exactly the same thing happens for office. Office could do everything people wanted from a word processor in 95, but somehow people just keep upgradeing. Office 97, office 2000, office XP. A large part of the reason is "interoperability". Your employer uses office XP, and your boss (who looks a lot like the PHB from dilbert...) simpley cannot grasp the concept of saveing in RTF to email documents to you. So you ust buy office XP as well, along with everyone else the PHB sends documents to.

And of course there will be a crack. As DRM, its not very good. As a way to stop mere users from meddleing in things they are not supposed to understand, such as linux, its still effective through.

palladium reminds me of padded rooms- crazy people, there fore you cant trust them... palladium is supposed to mean trusted but the name and the concept sounds.......untrustworthy!!!