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Monkeywrenching Intel (3/2/99)
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Yesterday's episode generated quite a lot of feedback. In response to the "Windows crashes after running for 49.7 days straight" issue, several people wrote in to tell us that 49.7 days is actually 232 milliseconds, which explains the rather odd runtime limit; apparently the "timing bug" is just a set-size buffer overflowing or something like that. Even more people wrote in to ask just where in the hell Microsoft found a Windows 95 machine that had managed to run 49.7 days without crashing for some other reason. Sorry, folks-- we don't know; if we did, we'd chuck AtAT and start living off the film rights after selling the Amazing 50-Day Wintel™ to LucasFilms and the Guinness people. It's no wonder this bug went undiscovered for so long.
Besides that, though, we were intrigued by some of the feedback we got regarding this whole "Pentium III-only" web site issue. To put it lightly, people are incensed. The idea that Intel is cutting deals with content providers to create web sites that only allow access from Pentium III's appears to have awoken some larger sense of moral outrage. Faithful viewer Daniel Fox, however, had an interesting idea for a strategy to fight the Pentiumization of the web:
I realize you were joking when you talked about blocking access to Windows... but consider this: What if lots of websites get together and agree to block access to Pentium III computers, based on the same serial number technology? Your site, slashdot.org, and a few hundred others could get this movement rolling, and before you know it, the surfing experience becomes really [censored] for anyone using a Pentium III. All they would see is a message to the effect of: "You can't access this site because you are using a Pentium III, which is a processor designed to violate your right to privacy." There might be a link to more info... etc. We, the web community, can bring down even a giant like Intel... if we work together.
Now that's an intriguing plan. While we're not necessarily convinced that it would be easy to sign webmasters up to participate in such a scheme, it's fun to imagine people using Intel's latest hyped-up "it makes the Internet faster" processor get rejected from site after site. Of course, AtAT's participation wouldn't help one bit, we expect; the only people tuning in here on non-Macs are generally Mac fans who are forced to use Windows at work. A lot of people don't have a choice what computer they use to make their living, and the last thing we'd want to do is block out true fans who were stuck with a Pentium III at the office. But we still think Daniel's idea is a neat thought experiment. Then again, Philip Lord has an idea that may be subtler and potentially even more subversive:
Has anyone thought of writing a program that emulates the serial number embedded into the Pentium III? I'm sure a budding young programmer could emulate the process and have his/her program produce random and bogus serial numbers... If this idea took off, then it would basically negate any effort that Intel has put into the serial number concept, as any web site requesting the serial number could never be sure that the serial number it recieves is a true serial number or a fake one.
Let's think about that one for a minute... Say someone writes an extension/plug-in/whatever that makes your Power Mac act like a Pentium III from a serial number perspective. Meaning, you surf to a site that requests a Pentium III serial number, and your Power Mac sends one off. Ta-daaa! You're allowed access to the site. But what happens when the server starts sending over code that really will only run on a Pentium III? You'd probably get an error message, and you wouldn't get to view all the content after all. Still, if implemented, Phil's idea could allow non-Pentium III's to use e-commerce sites relying on the serial number technology. Again, it's an interesting thing to think about. From our perspective, we just wish people would try to keep the web as accessible to as many platforms and computers as possible, but then, that's the kind of hippie tree-hugging idealism that Intel's trying to eradicate. All we can say is, "Damn the Man!"
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SceneLink (1375)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/2/99 episode: March 2, 1999: Holy cats-- the wind-up MacMate might be real, unless Apple Recon made a rookie mistake and got taken in by fake email. Meanwhile, AtAT viewers explore possible responses to the Pentium III-only web sites that Intel is fostering, and Microsoft continues to claim that they're going to win their antitrust case, much to the personal amusement of the rest of the world...
Other scenes from that episode: 1374: Wound Up Over Wind-Up (3/2/99) If you ask us, all the speculation about a hand-cranked portable Mac has officially gotten way out of hand. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you know what we're talking about; a couple of years ago, some ingenious fellow concocted a relatively small hand-powered generator that was capable of providing juice for various electrical devices... 1376: Better Than Methadone (3/2/99) Have you entered the darkest stages of "Redmond Justice" withdrawal yet? Because now that court's closed and the lawyers are off sunning themselves for Spring Break, we're really starting to miss our daily dose of antitrust trial drama...
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