> This changes the machine from being a general purpose
> device, into a software/hardware/content compliance
> apparatus. Past efforts operated in isolation from
> other components of the system - this will turn the
> entire system (including the Internet) into one,
> immense, monitoring matrix.
It still sounds like a prescription for utter disaster. Huge chunks of that system will be proprietary and therefore loaded with bugs and vulnerabilities. The cost of doing the monitoring alone would be staggering. The licensing, legalese, etc. etc. etc. would drive costs through the roof, and hardware manufacturers don't want to be cash cows to the Wintel machine forever. It's eerily like the silicon version of the US oiligarchy's 50-year war on the petro-periphery -- I don't doubt Wintel is hard at work on this, but I can't imagine them winning, not even on the desktop, which is there they're mostly at.
> inescapable character to this. Asian and European
> firms/users will use AMD and Intel CPUs,
Why wouldn't they look to Via for low-cost, cheaper alternatives? Heavy legal heat?
-- DRR