Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday May 27 2017, @12:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the good+fast+cheap? dept.

Intel is planning to make the Thunderbolt specification royalty-free, and include support for the protocol on its CPUs rather than on external chips:

Intel's dream of making one cable to rule them all took a huge step forward this week. On Wednesday, Intel announced it will integrate Thunderbolt 3 into future CPUs. More importantly, the company said it would open up the long-secret protocol to the world, royalty-free. The company's explanation for the change is practically utopian. "Intel's vision for Thunderbolt was not just to make a faster computer port, but a simpler and more versatile port available to everyone," wrote Chris Walker, Intel's vice president for Client Computing, in a blog post.

[...] By moving Thunderbolt onto the CPU, Intel says it can lower the cost and the power requirements. Intel didn't actually detail which CPUs would get Thunderbolt 3 or when. If it's truly coming to all of them, it would mean every PC that uses an Intel chip would get the much sought-after feature. There's no fear of a proprietary lock now, either. "In addition to Intel's (CPU integrated) Thunderbolt silicon," Walker wrote, "next year Intel plans to make the Thunderbolt protocol specification available to the industry under a nonexclusive, royalty-free license."

Here's an idea: take the Intel Management Engine off at the same time.

Also at BusinessInsider, Wired, CNET, Tom's Hardware, and Ars Technica.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Saturday May 27 2017, @01:44AM

    by jmorris (4844) on Saturday May 27 2017, @01:44AM (#516232)

    take the Intel Management Engine off at the same time.

    It is too useful to the corporate world, asking for them to remove a desirable feature is pointless #VirtueSniveling. Instead ask for something at least remotely possible that would be better. Ask them to open the specs on how it works and to allow a way to securely add a key to permit a different management engine firmware. Same for signed boot, if you can use it for your own purposes it is a great thing that adds (we can argue how much) to total system security but if it is locked to only permit booting Windows 10 then it is evil.

    All of this tech is morally neutral in concept, the devil is always in the implemention details.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3