The truth is out there

Aug 5, 2005 16:54 GMT  ·  By

According to a CNET.com report, Apple is determined to prevent its OS, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, to run on anything else, except Intel-powered Macs. And there is no surprise about it.

The news that The PowerMac includes a microcontroller known as the Trusted Platform Module that contains a digital signature necessary in order to install the Mac OSX operating system onto the box emerged from one of the members of Apple Developer Connection.

After the announcement that Apple is migrating on Intel chips, the company started shipping Developer Transition Kits to help programmers to prepare software for the new Macs. The kit contains a version of OS X for Intel, and a Mac computer featuring an Intel processor.

An ADC member, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the microcontroller's existence to CNET News.com. The technology is an open industry standard governed by the Trusted Computing Group. Apple is said to be aiming to use this technology to prevent their copies of Mac OS 10 to be installed on the Intel platform, which could result in huge losses for Apple.

Each TPM chip contains an encrypted serial number that allows the operating system to verify whether it is running on Apple hardware.

According to the same source, apparently it was possible to install other operating systems like Windows and Linux onto the test box. But it was impossible to install software from the DVD containing the Intel-configured Mac OS onto similar x86-based PCs that lacked a TPM.

Still, according to another report that emerged from Open for Business, the Independent Journal for Open Standards and Open Source, the rumors circulating around the Internet concerning Apple's inclusion of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip in Intel-based Macs were incorrect

Open for Business says that ?a reliable source who requested anonymity told OfB, ?While many rumors are being circulated on the web about Apple's future direction on Intel processors with DRM, the majority of them are just that - rumors.? The source, a third-party Apple developer, continued, ?Reality is that these boxes are production PC's in an Apple case, not DRM or TCPA protected, and none of these boxes will remain in circulation after their purpose has been served - they must be returned to Apple?.

Apple declined to comment on these rumors.