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by jrockway 1052 days ago
It's a double-edged sword, right? On the one hand, Windows 12 can be completely iOS-like and you can't do anything about it. On the other hand, someone with physical access to your machine can't replace your OS that sends them your disk encryption password as soon as you get a DHCP lease.

Chrome OS really got this one right. You can disable all the security, but there is hardware that tells you that happened. It can also tell your employer so you don't download their IP to a laptop running malware. That's all it's ever been used for; no matter how much people try to make DRM a thing, it's never once worked. Every Netflix-exclusive show is easily downloadable on Usenet.

1 comments

The sword analogy is getting a bit awkward here, but the people making the sword only care about how well it protects media and software - because they want their marketplaces (app/music/movie/game stores) to be as attractive as possible to media conglomerates.

They don't give a damn how well it protects you.

I'm uncertain. Microsoft isn't making any real money off of media. They sell licenses to use Outlook and rent you some computers, and there's their income.
Of course they make money that way, because Netflix and co want DRM and they don't want you to stop watching Netflix on Windows and have to do it on your phone. So they'll go and make TPMs happen.

Also, Microsoft makes a lot of money from videogames, and TPMs help enforce microtransactions in single player games if nothing else.

That's just a game of chicken neither player wants to admit. "Netflix drops Windows 11, Microsoft launches new subscription service," ain't gonna be good for Netflix.