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Ambitious Plan to Let Users Control and Protect Information Will Require Remaking the Architecture of Personal Computers
Microsoft is developing a new system to improve computer security that will address concerns about privacy, security and intellectual property, Among the several benefits of the ambitious long-range plan, called "Palladium": it will seal information from attackers, it will block many viruses and worms from your computer and it will allow users to participate in new services and applications that allow control of their personal information even after it leaves their computer. Palladium could even help keep out spam from your inbox. To ensure security, the system requires special security chips, which Intel and Advanced Microdevices have agreed to produce. "It"s one of the most technically complex things ever attempted on the PC," says Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds.
Technology Editor Steven Levy previews the new system in the July 1 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, June 24). Though Microsoft does not claim a panacea to security and privacy concerns, the system is designed to dramatically improve the ability to control and protect personal and corporate information. Even more important, Levy reports, it"s intended to become a new platform for a host of yet-unimagined services to enable privacy, commerce and entertainment in the coming decades. "This isn"t just about solving problems, but expanding new realms of possibilities in the way people live and work with computers," says product manager Mario Juarez