Microsoft's silence on its Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) architecture has some industry insiders wondering if the technology has been substantially delayed, or even axed.
Microsoft unveiled NGSCB, formerly known by its Palladium code name, in 2002. The technology, Microsoft has said, uses a combination of software and hardware that boosts PC security by providing the ability to isolate software so it can be protected against malicious code. NGSCB requires changes to a PC's processor, chipset and graphics card, for which Microsoft has said that it enlisted the help of hardware makers including Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Critics have argued that NGSCB will curtail users' ability to control their own PCs and could erode fair-use rights for digital music and movie files.
Last May, at its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle, Microsoft said it was retooling NGSCB so some of the benefits would be available without the need to recode
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