Matt Loney of ZDNet (UK) examines concerns that Palladium, Microsoft's 'trusted computing platform', will be licensed under terms that are structured to prevent non-proprietary software (especially Linux) from using its APIs . . .

“Following widespread skepticism of Microsoft's motives for developing its trusted computing platform, the software giant this week moved to reassure the software community that Palladium will not be limited to Microsoft's platforms.”

“Although Microsoft has said it will publish the source code for Palladium, free software and open-source advocates are concerned that license terms will prevent non-proprietary software from using the application programming interfaces.”

“Speaking to ZDNet UK, Microsoft Palladium group product manager Mario Juarez said it is still too soon to say what license will be used for Palladium interfaces, but indicated that it would not necessarily be as restrictive as past examples. 'We do realize that we are an important company and that we have a responsibility to the industry. The goal is for as many people as possible to be able to take advantage of what we are talking about here. We are not trying to drive this as a Microsoft-only initiative'”

“Juarez was responding to criticisms that the Palladium initiative is in part designed to lock out other platforms — in particular Linux and other open-source and free software operating systems . . .”

Read full story

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.