• OT: Pengwin Linux and Microsoft's future

    From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 8 11:58:04 2023
    While doing some basic research, I ran across "Pengwin Linux." Mostly
    because I was looking for Linux distros in the Windows Store, to follow
    up on other research as to why the TPM requirement in 11.

    https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/pengwin/9NV1GV1PXZ6P

    So, imo, this is the beginnings of where Microsoft is headed. Whitewater Foundry, the makers of Pengwin, are an all-in Microsoft partner. There
    are Windows logos all over the top of the page and, oddly, Red Hat logos
    waaay down at the bottom.

    https://www.whitewaterfoundry.com/

    Listed on Crunchbase as an "IT management company with fewer than 50 employees."

    I imagine Microsoft is also working with Codeweavers to get businesses
    the Win32 backwards compatibility they need. Don't be surprised if they straight-up buy them in the near future. That is not a stock tip.

    Whitewater Foundry is also producing "Fedora Remix." Which is their Red
    Hat option. That's probably the reason for the Red Hat logos. It is in
    its infancy by the looks of it.

    But games on Linux? That's all Valve, and there's no way Microsoft is
    working with Valve. They want everyone to get their games from the
    Microsoft Store.

    So hold onto your game libraries kids, because I think NT is reaching
    it's shelf life. It looks very much like Pengwin, or some other Microsoft
    based startup, will eventually become the next version of Windows.

    You want to keep your games? I would call get them running on Debian (or
    Ubuntu as a secondary option). That's what Pengwin is based on. It looks
    like Fedora Remix is just a way to say that they're not trying to muscle
    out IBM and hedge their bets.

    I think the ultimate hope is that Pengwin is the new NT and Fedora Remix
    is the new OS2. If you bet on Microsoft, don't bet on Red Hat.

    The only question I have is, "Why Pengwin instead of other versions of
    Linux." Answer: Azure, I guess. There are a lot of moving parts. MS
    intends to leverage their non-Windows technologies to gain advantage for
    their ultimate Linux offering.

    Welcome to the 2020's. Same as the 1990's. It's a looong game.

    --
    Zag

    West of House
    There is a small mailbox here.

    read leaflet
    "WELCOME TO USENET!

    USENET is a game of adventure, danger,
    and low cunning. In it you will
    explore some of the most amazing
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    computer should be without it!"

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  • From Spalls Hurgenson@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 8 14:35:34 2023
    On Fri, 08 Sep 2023 11:58:04 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
    wrote:

    While doing some basic research, I ran across "Pengwin Linux." Mostly
    because I was looking for Linux distros in the Windows Store, to follow
    up on other research as to why the TPM requirement in 11. >https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/pengwin/9NV1GV1PXZ6P

    So, imo, this is the beginnings of where Microsoft is headed. Whitewater >Foundry, the makers of Pengwin, are an all-in Microsoft partner. There
    are Windows logos all over the top of the page and, oddly, Red Hat logos >waaay down at the bottom.

    I imagine Microsoft is also working with Codeweavers to get businesses
    the Win32 backwards compatibility they need. Don't be surprised if they >straight-up buy them in the near future. That is not a stock tip.

    Welcome to the 2020's. Same as the 1990's. It's a looong game.

    Embrace, Extend... Extinguish.

    Frankly, every thing Microsoft does these days makes me move more and
    more towards Linux full time. My primary remains a Windows machine,
    but a lot of my other PCs and laptops now use Linux. Steam's support
    helps, but a lot of it is just a reaction to Microsoft.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ross Ridge@21:1/5 to zaghadka@hotmail.com on Sat Sep 9 16:14:34 2023
    Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:
    While doing some basic research, I ran across "Pengwin Linux." Mostly
    because I was looking for Linux distros in the Windows Store, to follow
    up on other research as to why the TPM requirement in 11.

    ...

    But games on Linux? That's all Valve, and there's no way Microsoft is
    working with Valve. They want everyone to get their games from the
    Microsoft Store.

    This is ultimately the reason for the TPM and related requirements in
    Windows 11. They want to turn PCs into Xboxes, where you're forced to
    buy games and apps through the Microsoft Store. It won't happen during
    Windows 11 lifetime, and may never happn, but that's always been the
    end game of TPM.

    Forcing the use of TPM in Windows 11 doesn't enable any additional
    features that aren't in Windows 10 if TPM is enabled and doesn't really
    give any advantages to ordinary users. People think TPM stores their
    passwords securely, but what it really does is allow things to be be
    encrypted so that's its impossible for them to be decrypted without the
    same TPM being present in the PC. So, if someone steals the SSD out of
    your PC, they can't access your TPM encrypted passwords, but if they steal
    your whole PC then the TPM won't stop them from decrypting your passwords.
    If one application on your PC can access your passwords than a malicious application can as well.

    TPM does have another lesser known feature though called software
    attestation, and that's meant for copyright protection. In theory it
    could be used right now by software in combination with a validation
    server to prevent pirated software or media being used by verifying that
    its being used on an authorized PC, and that the OS, BIOS and CPU haven't
    been compromized. In practice I don't know if anyone is actually using
    this feature of TPM, probably because there's just too many possible OS,
    and BIOS versions to validate.

    But having TPM enabled on every PC would also help make TPM software attestation more practical. If Microsoft can get it working, and people acclimatized to it, they'd be one step closer to creating the same walled garden that people are already used to on the Xbox. Or more importantly
    on the incredibly lucritive iPhone.

    (Sure, anti-trust concerns would probably cause governments to force
    Microsoft to allow other app stores on a walled-garden version of Windows,
    but so far no one has forced Apple to do that, so maybe not?)

    --
    l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
    [oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
    -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
    db //

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Ross Ridge on Sat Sep 9 15:48:50 2023
    On 9/9/23 11:14, Ross Ridge wrote:
    But having TPM enabled on every PC would also help make TPM software attestation more practical. If Microsoft can get it working, and people acclimatized to it, they'd be one step closer to creating the same walled garden that people are already used to on the Xbox. Or more importantly
    on the incredibly lucritive iPhone.


    Every company is trying to take your choices..

    --
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Sun Sep 10 09:26:30 2023
    On 08/09/2023 19:35, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Frankly, every thing Microsoft does these days makes me move more and
    more towards Linux full time. My primary remains a Windows machine,
    but a lot of my other PCs and laptops now use Linux. Steam's support
    helps, but a lot of it is just a reaction to Microsoft.

    For me it's a bit of a no brainer as the main use of my PC is playing
    games. If I use Windows then a game is going to work out of the box. I
    can't say the same for Linux.

    To be honest though even if Linux did support games equally well I'd
    probably not change as the way I use my PC doesn't play well to what I
    consider the strengths of Linux.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)