OT: RE: Apple Goes Intel...

[Jim Leonard]

Steven N. Hirsch wrote:
> My question is: Given the ability of upcoming Intel (and AMD) CPUs to 
> self-virtualize seamlessly, how long will it take for someone to hack up a 
> "preboot" supervisor layer which will support OS X on a garden-variety PC?
> 
> They would almost have to resort to hardware-based DRM voodoo to prevent 
> it.

Even then, it won't matter, as anything contained in ROM/BIOS/whatever will be 
dumped with some program and used to emulate the later that the OS is looking 
for.  Same thing has already occured (to a lesser extent) in the current Xbox 
hacking scene.

The only thing that would have a chance of working (for a while, anyway) is 
something like PGP-style encryption, where a particular copy of an OS could 
only be decrypted by keys in ROM.  This means each MacTel *must* ship with the 
OS pre-installed, as they would be tied to each other.  But this is a ton of 
hassle for the end consumer should anything go wrong, so it won't come about ( 
or last long).
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)                    http://www.oldskool.org/
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