[Seven!]

The only information I have heard on this is from http://www.againsttcpa.com/

As a freeware and open source advocate, this is forcing me into paranoia. Is this just some fake rumor to scare kiddies such as myself? I'm legit, and cracking the encryption(or whatever it is) would render me helpless.

Wouldn't the TCPA kill freeware?

Please help me understand this, and clear up any misconceptions.

[Advertisements]

If Microsoft is including TCPA in Vista they will suddenly find a lot of people switching to Linux. TCPA would be the biggest mistake they could make, and they've made a few over the years.

[Tyger]

If Microsoft is including TCPA in Vista they will suddenly find a lot of people switching to Linux. TCPA would be the biggest mistake they could make, and they've made a few over the years.

[Guse]

Microsoft could start sacrificing virgins on the equinoxes and people still wouldn't deal with Linux's "driver support" issues and difficult software installations.

[warriorscot]

Yeah but they would be fast fixed if they had to switch it wouldnt take long if there was more driving force behind linux alot of its developers do it as a hobby not a serious endeavour.

[Michael]

Looks like I will have to fast track geting Suse to work on my computer. What it says that they will do is just nor legall it will have to be stoped by something. People will refuse to use that stuff, and Linux will take over.

[Tyger]

Yeah but they would be fast fixed if they had to switch it wouldnt take long if there was more driving force behind linux alot of its developers do it as a hobby not a serious endeavour.

I'm hoping that Novell will really try to make Linux a decent alternative to Windows. They've certainly made some improvements already.

[meighnot]

I've pretty much already decided that, except for work purposes that force me to use Windows, once XP is no longer getting the job done for me, I'm going Linux only at home.

The experiences I've had with Vista already aren't leaving me with much of a positive impression of the new OS, and the more that's being said about it, the less I want to deal with it.

[dsenette]

why are we in this handbasket and why is it getting so hot?

[meighnot]

I don't know...

As a coder though, TCPA scares me. I make some, not a ton just some, money doing small application coding for various clients. What concerns me is the implication that this has for my freelance coding.

Will I be hedged out of my meager little share of the software market by the giant corporations because I won't be able to afford to pay them to get a digital signature so that my two-bit (ha ha, nerd humor) apps can run on TCPA systems?

Many of my clients are small businesses who like to have a small-time coder do some of their application work because they don't need or need to pay for huge applications. Where are they going to turn if they can't run my applications anymore due to TCPA?

It doesn't just threaten the script kiddies and the downloaders and the software cracking filesharing pirates. It's affecting me and my currently legal niche side income.

Scary times ahead.

[Michael]

The thing is it if you read a link form that page to one that toke me about 30min to read it is not going to stop viruses, even micrsoft has admited that. It will do nothing good for the home user, it just give Bad Billl a lot more control of your what every one has. And the worst thing is once in the system you can't get out of it becase none of the documents made useing a computer with TCPA can be read with any thing but a computer with TCPA.

Another thing that I noticed, it is going to be a lot harder to learn to write code becase to get it to work you are going to have to pay a rather big fee.

[computerwiz12890]

That is absolutely rediculous!! What happened to the friendly, simple days like in Windows 3.11? I am really starting to miss those days!! No such thing as malware...only a few dozen viruses. Why are people making computing so unenjoyable???

[meighnot]

The number one reason is that it's profitable. Adware and spyware can bring in quite a lot of money to companies that produce and install them on people's computers. Advertising is, and always has been, big business, and the companies that push the ads are well paid by the companies whose products they advertise to do it because marketing experts know that if they can keep shoving the name of a product in front of someone's face long enough, that person will have that product on their mind more. It might influence their purchasing decision to the product that they can't forget the name of because they see it every three seconds.

The other big thing is that personal information about people is valuable. Not just things like credit card numbers and bank account numbers which have direct-payoff value, or Social Security Numbers which get used for identity theft, but also information about your browsing and buying habits becomes valuable as a tool to those in marketing who want to be able to more effectively market to you. If they know the kind of sites you visit, the kind of products that you buy, and where you spend your money, they can try to entice you to their products and line their pockets. They find out how old you are and add this information in with information collected on thousands or millions of other people in your age group and then push products and services at that 'target demographic.'

It'd be nice if they'd stop doing it and we could go back to the days when the vast majority of the problems came from the tiniest minority of viruses, but it's more likely that as long as adware and spyware make money, and as long as there are places on earth were it's legal, it'll still be produced. What I'd like to see? Sanctions against companies that operate in and are based in countries where adware/spyware is illegal (and it should be) and who employ the makers of adware and spyware to collect information for them and shill their products. Tougher laws defining the rights of users to not have software installed on their computers without full knowledge and consent would also be a goal of mine.

You hire an adware company to shove ads for your product down people's modems? You pay. You hire a spyware company to surreptitiously collect information for your company? You pay.

[dsenette]

it'll probably cause more spyware because no one will be able to write programs to clean the stuff...besides the larger companies..whos tools we know are no where near as good as the little guy's stuff....

[computerwiz12890]

If this TCPA thing does occur, we have to fight back! We can't sit here and allow MS to control every aspect of our computer lives. There are many intelligent people out there working on Linux, and some versions are really nice. I say we start a forum here, dedicated to the development of Linux, and contact some of those Linux programmers so we can combine their intelligence to make something that can really compete with Windows. What do y'all say?

[Michael]

If you can do that, I think that is is great. Youi will have to take it up with some one like ~Kat~ or admin. Live chat it a good place to do things like that.