Next Windows to use hardware for security

Microsoft's ambitious plan to keep data safe on PCs will make a scaled-down debut in the next release of Windows, though the operating system's most anticipated improvements in graphics appear to mirror what's now available from rival Apple Computer.

Microsoft's ambitious plan to keep data safe on PCs will make a scaled-down debut in the next release of Windows, though the operating system's most anticipated improvements in graphics appear to mirror what's now available from rival Apple Computer.

HT Image

The long-delayed Windows upgrade, code-named Longhorn and now expected in December 2006, has been touted as the most significant update to the ubiquitous operating since Windows 95 launched in 1995. On Monday, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates demonstrated Longhorn's new graphics and other features, which include better ways to visualise data such as seeing through windows that are stacked atop each other, and faster searching.

Longhorn is the first Windows version to implement Microsoft's vision of boosting security by placing cryptographic keys in special silicon chips that would be built into PCs. Currently, such encryption locks are stored as data on a hard drive. It is, however, much more difficult to crack a chip. The security chip in computers running Longhorn would thus render sensitive files inaccessible if someone tried to boot the machine from a portable hard drive or floppy disk.

The security initiative — once code-named Palladium but later christened the Next Generation Secure Computing Base, or NGSCB — was announced in 2002 and was quickly attacked by privacy advocates, Microsoft critics and others as a mechanism by which commercial interests might wrest control of PCs from their owners. Some claimed it would enable strict copyright protection schemes for music, movies and software. It also could restrict the tinkering that has driven computer industry innovation over the years, they said.

But sure startup isn't expected to be as controversial as chip-based rights management. Microsoft has not said, however, how else Longhorn might interact with the chip, though security features are expected that would make it more difficult for online criminals to break into PCs.

Some PC vendors, including IBM and Hewlett-Packard have been offering PCs with security chips for years. On Monday, HP announced it will support Longhorn's implementation on some of its business computers and workstations.

Previous versions of Windows often were criticised for being too vulnerable and buggy. The bulk of Gates' speech covered Longhorn's visual and organizational features — which Apple CEO Steve Jobs described last week as "shamelessly" copying his company's Mac OS X operating system.

"They can't even copy fast," Jobs said at his company's shareholder meeting. Indeed, many of the features that Gates demonstrated Monday have been a part of the Mac OS since it was released in March 2001.

SMART BOX
Longhorn call

• Placing cryptographic keys in special silicon chips that would be built into PCs. Currently, such encryption locks are stored as data on a hard drive

• The security chip in computers running Longhorn would thus render sensitive files inaccessible if someone tried to boot the machine from a portable hard drive or floppy disk