Suggestion for newer OS (technical)

[Guest]

Here's a way to efficiently run Windows without any virus or OS system error
threat:

What about the idea of building a chipset designed specifically for Windows?
Instead of just 1 ROM chip with BIOS on it (that can't be changed), put
another ROM chip (or EEPROM) with Windows on it. Then, no virus or anything
could infect Windows from working properly. Virus/Spyware/Trojans could only
infect non-system files and since windows would be built with Anti-virus
software (EEPROM with special codes that only Microsoft or computer-user
could find out to update virus software), there wouldn't be a threat anymore.
You can't destroy BIOS because of it's engineered place on the chipset. So
why not do that with Windows? Instead of selling the software, sell a chip
to upgrade, or sell the software that cracks this EEPROM security measure so
it can overwrite it with the new upgrades. Aren't we all looking to avoid
crashes and having to restart the computer manually and avoid all these
terrible virus' and applications designed to ruin Operating Systems? I'd
really like to know if something like this is where OS developers are heading
or if it's already been tested before. Of course that means Microsoft taking
up and buying OEMs to build chipsets specifically for their OS. But really,
isn't the majority of people using a Microsoft OS on non-Apple computers?

This is just a suggestion. I think it's better to do this than to always be
having new security updates online and automatic windows upgrades. What do
you guys/girls think? Just remember... BIOS has never been upgraded. It's
been the same since... well, since the 80's (I think).

 

[You Know Who ~]

if updates could be downloaded to a ROM chip, then viruses could be too.
And people would want upgrades and the ability to install new drivers, etc.
Still, the idea of putting windows in RAM instead of on a hard drive might
work some day when the memory modules are large and cheap.

 

[Scott Thomas]

This is something that has been tossed around for some time and even
attempted back in the DOS days. There were DOS chips that did this (and it
made sense since DOS didn't really change much). I don't completely remeber
why the project was abandoned. Possibly, at least in part, copyright/patent
issues (such as who owned what and who had what rights to produce, etc).
The general conclusion is/was that it wouldn't work on a mass scale.
Producing the chips would be expensive and would have to be changed so often
it wouldn't be worthwhile. Also, it would likely allow others to easily
copy the chip since reverse-engineering a chip isn't too hard.
Alot of the updates for Windows are due to bad design in Windows itself, so
if they screwed up in programming and the chips were already made, it would
be a major hassle to change them. If the chips were EEPROM's there would be
many other problems with people flashing them incorrectly or putting other
software changes in them (including viruses). Also, many parts of windows
have DLL's which of course stands for DYNAMIC link libraries. These files
must change according to software demands and are frequently the reason
Windows has problems. Not to mention the amount of time it would take to
code Windows into the chip itself. Creating millions of chips with Windows
code would be quite expensive (at least at first).
Also what if/when Windows gets upgraded? What would users do to upgrade?
Have to replace chips? Flash them?
I personally believe it is a good idea, but the logistics of it are
prohibitting.
I don't believe it is impossible though, I believe that soon flash memory
will replace hard drives as capacity expands.
Currently you actually can put operating systems on flash drives and run
them entirely from a flash drive. I suppose one could simply "lock" the
flash drive to prevent tampering. Since there are no moving parts, and the
physical space is much less than a hard drive, this may yet be an
alternative.

 

[Bob I]

Just never connect it to the outside world and the issue is moot. As far
as the scheme proposed, anything you can read, you can break. It's a
moving target. If it was all burned in silicon, all and good, but then
you would have a old game console and not a computer.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Here's a way to efficiently run Windows without any virus or OS system error
threat:

What about the idea of building a chipset designed specifically for Windows?
Instead of just 1 ROM chip with BIOS on it (that can't be changed), put
another ROM chip (or EEPROM) with Windows on it. Then, no virus or anything
could infect Windows from working properly. Virus/Spyware/Trojans could only
infect non-system files and since windows would be built with Anti-virus
software (EEPROM with special codes that only Microsoft or computer-user
could find out to update virus software), there wouldn't be a threat anymore.
You can't destroy BIOS because of it's engineered place on the chipset. So
why not do that with Windows? Instead of selling the software, sell a chip
to upgrade, or sell the software that cracks this EEPROM security measure so
it can overwrite it with the new upgrades. Aren't we all looking to avoid
crashes and having to restart the computer manually and avoid all these
terrible virus' and applications designed to ruin Operating Systems? I'd
really like to know if something like this is where OS developers are heading
or if it's already been tested before. Of course that means Microsoft taking
up and buying OEMs to build chipsets specifically for their OS. But really,
isn't the majority of people using a Microsoft OS on non-Apple computers?

This is just a suggestion. I think it's better to do this than to always be
having new security updates online and automatic windows upgrades. What do
you guys/girls think? Just remember... BIOS has never been upgraded. It's
been the same since... well, since the 80's (I think).

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/default.mspx

--

Bruce Chambers

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