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10/01/2005 Archived Entry: "Microsoft lock-in, Vista edition"

Still don't believe Microsoft wants to lock you in? I just learned that Microsoft's new Windows, "Vista", will use encrypted file systems...so other operating systems can't read its files.

I recently helped a friend install Linux alongside Windows on his laptop. He was delighted to discover that Linux could read his Windows directory, and he could move his files over. (Windows, on the other hand, cannot read Linux.) And I know several people who have used Knoppix as a "rescue disk" to access their files when their Windows system crashed.

However, if you can use Knoppix to read your files, then Microsoft can't control your access. And they really, really want to control your access to your own data. That's why the much-reviled Palladium has resurfaced in Vista; only now it's being called "Trusted Platform Module."

If you value your freedom to compute, and the ownership of your own data, stay the hell away from Windows Vista.  —brad