Re:Intel Software Defined Silicon: additional CPU features a...
by gruez on Monday November 22, 2021 @10:25AM
(#29307309)
>I don't like either, but if something is physically damaged (which lasering it off effectively does), then it's more reasonable (and it's not like software could reactivate it anyway).
why is it more reasonable? from a purely rational point of view, there really shouldn't be any difference between a physical method of disabling feature, and a software method of disabling it. Instead, I feel like it's more emotional than anything else, similar to "if I (the consumer) can't have it, they (intel) can't have it either!".
>What I'm talking about are features that are perfectly functioning, that are present in in the hardware/software, but that are locked off because the manufacturer wants to nickel and dime you. The business model of "soft-upgrading" CPUs is garbage for this reason.
Isn't lasering off cores the same here? Often times the cores are perfectly working. The only difference is the lack of soft-upgrades, but the "nickel and diming" arguably still occurs at the point of sale.
>It'd be like selling a Swiss Army Knife with 75% of the features physically blocked off, but still present. Would you take issue with someone modifying such a knife to access the parts that are already there?
No, I wouldn't take any issue with them trying to modify it. It's their property and they can do whatever they see fit. That said, I fail too see how that's relevant to the discussion, and it feels more like a strawman. Everyone in the comment thread is talking about whether it's "right" for intel to do it, or whether people are justified in being outraged at intel. At no point were people arguing for/against "tak[ing] issue with someone modifying such [product] to access the [features] that are already there".
why is it more reasonable? from a purely rational point of view, there really shouldn't be any difference between a physical method of disabling feature, and a software method of disabling it. Instead, I feel like it's more emotional than anything else, similar to "if I (the consumer) can't have it, they (intel) can't have it either!".
>What I'm talking about are features that are perfectly functioning, that are present in in the hardware/software, but that are locked off because the manufacturer wants to nickel and dime you. The business model of "soft-upgrading" CPUs is garbage for this reason.
Isn't lasering off cores the same here? Often times the cores are perfectly working. The only difference is the lack of soft-upgrades, but the "nickel and diming" arguably still occurs at the point of sale.
>It'd be like selling a Swiss Army Knife with 75% of the features physically blocked off, but still present. Would you take issue with someone modifying such a knife to access the parts that are already there?
No, I wouldn't take any issue with them trying to modify it. It's their property and they can do whatever they see fit. That said, I fail too see how that's relevant to the discussion, and it feels more like a strawman. Everyone in the comment thread is talking about whether it's "right" for intel to do it, or whether people are justified in being outraged at intel. At no point were people arguing for/against "tak[ing] issue with someone modifying such [product] to access the [features] that are already there".