This is a discussion about <B>Microsoft Computing: Trusted Computing</b>.<p align='center'><a href=http://www.mcpressonline.com/mc? This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it @.6b25b6ed>Click here for the article</a>.</p>

This industry really does need some kind of initiative to improve it's reputation. Products that don't work, security systems that ship turned off, or when turned on don't really provide effective security, quality control that is tacked on as an afterthought. The internet has become a problem child of spam and hacker attacks. <p>Even the rapid increase in raw computing horsepower is viewed in many quarters as variant of planned obsolescence. So why doesn't this idea seem to be the answer? <p>Well, it doesn't seem to address consumer rights and expectations. Where is the vendor commitment to fix broken products? And not by upgrading, or buying the next version, or getting a deal on the "commercial/business/professional/enterprise" edition but by fixing the product you bought. Where are the money-back guarantees? Where is the end to the weasel-worded privacy and security statements, that seem to promise only that "our company is really nice, we promise!". <p>The vendors seem to want us to trust them. Some have demonstrated that they are trustworthy. Far too many have abused that trust. Most have had moments in their history when there were, to put it politely, "issues". And now they want to control the dialogue. <p>Consumers of every stripe, from business to individuals, are right to be skeptical.