06.13.05
Security chip to limit OS X to Macs - vnunet.com
Security chip to limit OS X to Macs - vnunet.com:
“Apple could use the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip to ensure that only Mac computers can run its OS X operating system, according to a news analysis from Gartner.”
Well, yeah, of course they could. They might even do it. But even that won’t stop someone from hacking kernel layer and making it look like such a module exists. Unless they move to some sort of product activation thing, ala Windows XP, that is. Even then, with control of the kernel layer, such hackery should be doable, just harder.
I’d guess that as long as I can’t go buy $130 for OS X and drop it into a Dell hack-free that’s good enough. They don’t need to stop any more than casual installing on random other intel hardware. It’s not as if they forcibly tie their software to their hardware now. It’s the lack of PowerPC based hardware just lying around to hack on that keeps it from being done.