“Boffins at the company which prides itself on its security excellence, Microsoft, are working out ways of keeping Apple’s iPod users from plugging into networks,” Nick Farrell reports for The Register. “[Microsoft] is developing more ways to prevent owners of the reassuringly expensive juke boxes using their designer toys to nick data. According to Associated Press reports, the new technology will be one of the few new things that will appear in Shorthorn which is set to appear in 2006.”
Full article here.
I regularly take work home to finish it off when a tight deadline looms large in the office.
So how will Micros*it address the my needs, and those of other people who legitimately use iPods as portable hard drives to transfer work in a SOHO environment? Poorly, I’d guess.
And what about every other make of portable hard drive? Will the LaCie, Maxtor, SmartDisk, Formac et all find there drives are excluded, and not just the iPod?
This is the biggest mistake Billy Bob can make… especially for those PeeCeers who have tried iTunes, the iPod and the ITMS….
They Love them !!
Take this away from your customer base, and they’ll find a way to get it back !!
Like maybe even buying a Mac ??
What a bunch of craphead hacks. Microsuck needs to go.
Buffoons!
Longhorn is so far away that, by the time it gets here in one form or another MS will find a way to let the iPod and other drives work on a selective basis. Your computer will be assigned as open or closed to these devices, based on the network administrator. For small office users all PCs will be able to be set to “open”.
Wouldn’t worry about it too much as it will be years before Longhorn is delivered and a lot more years before a majority of companies have migrated to it.
Microsoft is a dinosaur dying.
Linux is snapping at heels on one side, Apple on the other.
Instead of innovating, Microsoft is in protect and prevent mode. This is a sure sign of a company struggling to protect its business (monopoly).
Watch Steve Ballmer – when word starts leaking he is thinking of retiring…then the mothership is going to ground and needs a rapid shakeup and breakup.
MDN, you know better than that. It has nothing to do, specifically, with the iPod. It has to do with anything that can be used to steal data.
Have the intellectual honesty to admit that.
You are becoming irrelevent with your ranting.
Misleading headline. It suggests blocking the use of iPods and iTunes at first glance.
Waht this is talking about is the ability to switch off firewire/usb on corporate machines. As long as it’s easy to configure, then there simply should not be a problem with that.
This is not Microsoft trying to lock out iPod, it’s microsoft trying to add security. Lord knows they need some.
Hywel makes an excellent point (that is right on the money). There will still be iPods and iTunes for Windows, you just can’t use it to steal corporate data. For once Microsoft might be doing something right.
Too bad spyware and adware will still abound. Still sticking with Macs.
Micro$oft and Security ???
Please tell me what one has to do with the other ??
ROFL
Pay attention to this move by MicroSoft – because it is an indicator of the big picture.
MS now fears OSx…. and its no wonder. MS is frightened of losing its customer base before it can bring Longhorn to the market.
Windows has shown itself to be buggy, unstable and full of holes. If it and OSx were being introduced today as two new and competing products, who do you think would be dead in a week?
2005 is going to be a big big year for switchers…
Now… if Apple will lower its hardware price just a little…. and build an entry-level machine, they could capitalize on the MicroSoft downward spiral while Longhorn remains a dream within a dream.
Is anybody really surprised by this? This is typical M$ behavior. It’s the same behavior that go them a monopoly conviction. Since they got off with nothing but a slap on the hands before, they see no reason change that behavior now.
Chill, people. This is nothing more than putting the controls in place to ALLOW ADMINISTRATORS to potentially block ALL portable storage devices on a corporate network; this is nothing iPod specific. This will probably be implemented through Group Policy; to apply a common configuration to all attached computers in the domain. There is nothing “Against Apple”, “Anti-iPod”, “Scared of OSX”, here.
Believe me, I detest Microsoft too, but let’s try to approach these things rationally.
MDN needs to grow up. the headline is just bloody missleading
if people ould BOTHER TO READ then maybe they will understand a little. mac fucking hell i hate mac zealots who just jump onto stuff some bull shit site has made up
FUCK U MDN
and sorry, i am not going to click the itunes link to give ya 5% of the song i am buying.
The fact that they use ‘iPods’ to mention any mp3 player or storage device says volumes about the ubiquity of Apple’s creation.
Remember ‘IBM Compatibles’?
interesting article concerning security….
and guess who is vunerable, and who isnt ??
http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39123925,00.htm
The iPod is only one of a class of devices that Micro$oftopoly is adressing with this effort. Commercial and Government client IT staffs are worried about sensitive data walking out on USB “Jump Drives” and other portable devices.
The iPod is at it’s heart a multi-gig disk drive that could carry out tons of confidential data, bypassing firewalls and other network based security. The isue is legit but will probably be handled in a ham-handed way by the folks at Redmond.
Ok, so the writers of sub-standard code find a way to block the iPod from downloading files, but still allows the music…. (a daunting task to be sure)…
Then… along comes something like .. this…
How will the landscape change ??
Just another reason to buy a Mac and use OSX. Apple gives users the tools to do there work and enjoy using there computers. Microsoft enjoys taking everything away from it’s users and tries to control the whole experience. If people use portable drives to take there work home for there company then this kind of security is a mistake and will cost Microsoft dearly. They should be working on real projects like getting there code secure and stop harassing there own user base who there alienating everyday as the constant barage of viruses, worms, and security leaks crash there systems! Like a wrote above just another reason to buy and use a Mac with OSX.
Will microsoft also allow admins to block floppy disks, oh wait they can’t do that, seeing how important they are to modern computing
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Ehmm, I see no Take from MDN, nor comments, just reporting. Take it on the Enquirer fellas. This is a no-comment report from MDN.
The headline might be misleading but last time I checked was The Enquirer headline.
Come people. Microsoft is following in the footsteps of the Fox News Network when they broadcast “well, a lot of people are saying…” questions to speakers or comment on a story.
They have no facts to back up those comments, but when they place their opinions under the fictitious “…people are saying….” umbrella they can get broadcast their opinion without backing it up.
I dont believe for one second that people are demanding that external devices be kept more in check when used with Windows. You mean to tell me that CD and DVD burners, external storage devices such as Iomega’s Zip and Jazz drives and those smaller USB keychain storage devices never posed a problem with data security?
All of the sudden, with the popularity of the iPod, now data security is on MS priority list because “some people are saying….” that they want such a feature in place?
Wake up.
You really think they can get it to work?
Good comments Seahawk. Those guys are probably trolls. I’ve seen plenty of articles, not just from the Enquirer, that cite the iPod, when the issue involves all digital players and portable storage devices. The anti-Apple establishment loves taking pot shots at Apple. But in the end, Apple still comes out on top.
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Tunebite sounds very similar to Audio Hijack or Wire Tap, and any other programs for Windows that also record music that’s being played. Surely there are some for Windows already?
I don’t trust Microsoft as far as I could throw them, just because of their record. This sounds suspicious, like they want to lock out the iPod from from Longwait in order to advance the crappy WiMP. iTunes makes it look sick.