https://tube.archworks.co/w/7e5mfUDxPTxEWJqW7c3Bpz
As you might have guessed, I have thoughts.
TL;DR You don't need to buy a TPM module, or new hardware that has one. Keep your existing PC and replace MS Widows with a reputable GNU/Linux OS. It'll keep working for years with guaranteed software updates, and no viruses, and it'll probably run faster,
(1/?)
You could also buy a brand new PC with GNU/Linux preloaded;
If you choose wisely you could still be using it in decades, like hardware from pre-enshittification Apple.
To be clear, I'm not encouraging a mass transition to GNU/Linux OS to guilt-trip you into doing what I think is ethical, regardless of the impacts on you. On the contrary, my intent is to warn you that TPM+Windows is as bad for you, as the DRM in John Deere's tractors is for farmers.
(2/?)
The TPM is great.
And despite what people have been saying for a decade+ now, the TPM has never been used for DRM.
The reason why Microsoft is trying to require a TPM is to improve platform security on Windows machines.
You can also take ownership of the TPM and gain the same benefits on Linux.
Sure. Just like when BorgSoft banned v3 GNU copyleft licenses from Windows Phone;
https://www.theregister.com/2011/02/17/microsoft_bans_opensource_windows_phone/
It wasn't about BorgSoft reserving the right to TiVo app devs' code. It was all about improving platform security.
> You can also take ownership of the TPM and gain the same benefits on Linux
All the more reason for people to use that instead.
Of course it runs Linux now, but a tiny partition less than a 10th of a terabyte runs Windows 10 just for system utilities.
The point is, it never was just about the TPM. It was about planned obsolescence.
Thank goodness I left Windows when 11 was released and Proton became viable for gaming thanks to Valve.
But what is TPM and why do you need to avoid it?
TPM stands for Trusted Computing Module. Counterintuitively, this does not mean that your computer can be trusted to faithfully carry out instructions given by you, the person who owns and operates it. But rather by the vendors who made it and sold it to you.
Cory Doctorow ( @pluralistic) warned us about this more than a decade ago, as a major offensive in a "coming war on general-purpose computing";
https://boingboing.net/2012/01/10/lockdown.html
(3/?)
Picks & Shovels: Marty Hench at the dawn of enshittification
"... [TPM is ideal for] lobbies and interest groups far more influential than Hollywood and big content. Every one of them will arrive at the same place: 'Can't you just make us a general-purpose computer that runs all the programs, except the ones that scare and anger us? Can't you just make us an Internet that transmits any message over any protocol between any two points, unless it upsets us?'"
#CoryDoctorow, 2012
https://boingboing.net/2012/01/10/lockdown.html
(4/?)
Rejecting TPM hardware has both personal and societal benefits. By upgrading to GNU/Linux instead of accepting the downgrade that is Windows 11, you avoid a situation where BorgSoft has a power of veto over your computing via the TPM module. If enough people do it, we can finally break the BorgSoft monopoly over desktop OS and office software, and defeat the techno-fascist power grab that making TPM compulsory represents. Make no mistake, it is being made compulsory.
(5/?)
"... Even for computers that lack firmware TPM all together, buying a module won’t solve a major problem in Windows 11: All systems with unsupported hardware run the risk of being shut out of Windows updates. So sure, you can get a physical module to pair with an older CPU, assuming you have a motherboard with a TPM header. But you won’t stay as secure as supported PCs."
#AlainaYee, 2021
https://www.pcworld.com/article/545941/you-shouldnt-buy-a-tpm-for-windows-11-heres-why.html
Make no mistake folks, this is the end game. Which side are you on?
(6/6)
Can confirm. Like Mental Outlaw, I've been running GNU/Linux as a daily driver for more than a decade. I've never once had my OS infected by a virus or malware. Unless you count JavaScript, which created problems until I found NoScript.
The only evidence I've seen of viruses on GNU/Linux involved a server running it, being used as a vector to deliver them to Windows systems. The GNU/Linux system itself was unaffected by them.
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