Antony Stone - 23.08.18, 00:04:
> On Wednesday 22 August 2018 at 23:32:28, Martin Steigerwald wrote:
> > Don Wright - 22.08.18, 21:56:
> > > El Reg has [1]published a disagreement between a Debian maintainer
> > > and Intel over changes to license terms in the latest CPU
> > > microcode updates. The added terms (see comments) appear to
> > > attach liability to both Debian and mirror sites if the end user
> > > violates certain new restrictions regarding benchmarking. Debian
> > > has chosen not to play.
> > >
> > > [1]
> > > https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/21/intel_cpu_patch_licence/
> >
> > Rant opened:
> >
> > /me prays for the end of proprietary CPUs.
>
> <good reasoning snipped>
>
> > Speed over quality. – Stop it already.
> >
> > Rant closed.
>
> Personally, I agree with you, but just me and you as individual
> persons isn't going to make any difference.

If people thought this throughout all of human history, we would not
have computers at all. And also still think the Earth is flat and in a
center of the world / universe.

But I agree that just blaming them is not helpful. Blaming hands over
control to others, due to feeling helpless. It basically is an
expression of helplessness. So I completely get any feeling of
helplessness here. Intel seems like a giant that seems almost impossible
to move in a direction regarding that topic that benefits users in a
substantial way. AMD might move a little bit easier, but its still huge.

AMD opened up graphic chip documentation and drivers to a some extent
and other hardware manufacturers work more open to. So change can
happen. However at this point in time I just ranted (clearly marked) and
I did not even choose to invest any further effort in making a change.
Actually I felt helpless too. And as I did not yet release this feeling
completely, I wrote this rant.

One thing would be to start a petition and let the media advertise it
so… hopefully many will sign. I have much more important things in my
life right now, so maybe I just leave it at my rant and at aiming to
avoid buying new Intel systems or have new Intel systems bought for me,
cause it is always a few people starting a new movement, starting to
bring forth a change. And as AMD may be somewhat better, not not very
much, I may avoid those as well.

> Intel will only change their practices when the *majority* of their
> customers decide that "enough is enough", but unfortunately:

All changes start small. For a majority of customers to decide "enough
is enough", some will have to start. And then some more, and some more,
and some more. I claim that any major, lasting (!) change in human
history worked that way.

> 1) Intel sell very very few CPUs to individuals who are able to
> express their personal preferences and can choose to buy other CPUs
> instead
>
> 2) the big-name laptop and server manufacturers who *do* buy the
> majority of Intel's CPUs don't get the slightest whiff of any bad
> publicity to alert the general public to the dangers lurking inside
> the chips they're passing on inside their shiny new products

Maybe not yet, but if this publicity gets more widespread over time…
then they care. Companies, even largest companies have shown that they
care, if pressure is huge enough.

Sure some rant in a mailing list archive probably does not gain much
attention. But well, I even saw it that Jonathan Corbet referenced a
post of mine to LKML in an LWN article, so you never know.

> 3) the vast majority of computer users either don't buy their own
> computers (corporate employees) and/or don't have a clue about
> microcode vulnerabilities (I'd suggest that's a five nines percentage
> of computer users in general), and therefore aren't going to boycott
> Intel's (or anyone else's) closed designs because they simply don't
> know what the question is.

Well that one of the reasons I did not request a new laptop with Intel
CPU and chipset yet. I may at some point – in case there are still no
better alternatives in the sense of freedom and security –, but for now
I wait… I bet its challenging to build your own laptops and open
hardware projects are still mostly moving slowly, but there can be a
shift in the future.

> So, in summary:
>
> - you make a good point
>
> - as many people as you can possibly contact might well agree with
> you
>
> - it won't make the slightest difference
>
> This disappoints me, but as a realist, I try to accept the obstacles
> in the path to (my own and other people's) enlightenment, and I
> believe that banging one's head against a brick wall is sooner or
> later bad for the health :(

I surely get that. And I totally get that it is important to move beyond
ranting about it.

Essentially what I learned during learning to let go is: To change
something, it is important to first accept it, hold on to it, and then
change it. Resistance, denial or refusal is not helpful to effect
change.

I know all this… and I am in that human experience too. I felt like
ranting, even knowing it is not all that helpful in itself, and well
then I did.

And yes, its important to move beyond it and I bet I may just release on
that topic as well to move towards a position that is more powerful than
remaining in helplessness.

Thanks,
--
Martin