Cory Doctorow outlines his objections in the face of recent determinations that the versions of Mac OS compiled for Intel microprocessors use those CPUs’ built-in “trusted computing” features.

There are lots of things that bother me about “trusted computing” initiatives generally. First and foremost is this: the whole microcomputing revolution has been built on the idea that users have control over the machines they buy and use. “Trusted computing” is a way of turning over that control — at least to some degree, but perhaps irrevocably — to someone else. I understand why software vendors and content companies would like to be able to implement this, but I think it runs counter to the philosophy that gave rise to the personal computer in the first place.

Will Apple adopt the “trusted computing” features that Microsoft and Intel (in different forums and to different degrees) have been promoting, simply because Apple is moving to Intel microprocessors? I’m comforted to some degree by the fact that Apple has never been rigorous in imposing copy protection on OSX, and because the DRM in iTunes (despite some folks’ objections) is pretty minimal (that is, it’s trivially easy to sidestep, if you care to).

UPDATE: There’s a useful Wiki focusing on the transition of Mac OS X to x86 architectures here.

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