TPM hacks of Mac OS X not the whole story

Unless a software "TPM" was written into the code to return approval for all requests.

it'll still be cracked. and i hope it is. i don't care about running osx on non-macs, but I do care about being able to do what I want with what I buy. IE stripping the DRM off of iTMS tracks.

...that Apple will allow developers to have access to the TPM. There is no public API for using it. Developers would have to figure out how to use it, and Apple may not even use a private framework if it's just for the kernel to use.

I wish people would quit speculating, because this column is going to bring out the "the sky is falling! Apple si using teh P@ll@d!ummm!!!!!1111oneoneeleven" people.

We won't know what Apple is going to do until the first production Intel Mac rolls off the assembly line. Until then, speculation is POINTLESS and only serves to spread FUD.

...welcome our new TPM Overlords...

...with an open wallet.

The TPM is only part of the equation here. Don't you think that Apple will be manufacturing their own boards when the Intel Chip ships. They currently now have their own boards even though they share a chip with a few other platforms. More than likely the OS and apps with only run with a specific chipset on the board that they are going to make.

You're right, Larry. It'll never happen.

By the way, Man will never walk on the moon, cell phones will always be the size of bricks, the Twin Towers wil always be there and Space Invaders will never be played on home consoles...

I just don't want OS X slowing down with endless amounts of checks in apps and the OS to make sure the thing is legal. Of course, since I'm running PPC it should be golden but....I can see headlines "OS X slowdown due to interminable validation checks."

This guy is wrong. The cracked versions of OS X replaces the extension that talks to the TPM chip with an extension that emulates a TPM chip. Any software still using TPM would work.

The purpose of TPM on the developer machines is to ensure that OS X is being run on those developer unit. It is a soft lock meant to keep developers honest. Obviously some of them are less than honest and one of them will probably be sued by Apple over the leak.

Apple has demonstrated how it view DRM use in the wide range of usage rights we enjoy with iTMS songs. Mac users can use iTMS songs in projects within iMovie, iPhoto slide shows and iDVD projects without restriction.

Since there is no iLife package for Windows, windows users may not be aware of this.

Most of the people who are installing OS X on Intel boxes right now aren't in it for the long haul. They want the challenge, to see what MacOS X is like, and to just say they did it.

When Apple starts selling regular Intel Macs, many of them will probably buy one. If not, there'll probably be some other copy protection to keep them from updating the OS. That'll be worse than anything for these cutting-edge folks. Their machine'll suffer from bit rot as security goes unpatched and new features don't get implemented. Then they'll probably install the Linux-of-the-moment (Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Darwin, whatever) on that box and then buy a Mac if they want the real experience.

And maybe, just maybe, pigs will fly and Apple will license the OS to Dell, HP, Sony, or whoever, and these guys will have the choices they want.