Apple using TPM chips to prevent Mac OS on non-Apple PC

Apple using TPM chips to prevent Mac OS on non-Apple PC

It is now confirmed that Apple has indeed used TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chips on the test systems they have delivered to the members of its Apple Developer Connection. These systems are powered by Intel processors which the company plan to use in the near future as part of their platform shift from IBM PowerPC Processors.

These TPM chips enable Apple to restrict their Mac OS application to their own delivered hardware component. As a result the software application will not run on non-Apple hardware like the routine Personal Computers powered by Intel Processors. The PowerMac shipped includes a TPM chip that contains a digital signature necessary in order to install the Mac OS X operating system onto the box.

While, the aim is to restrict the Apple Software to the Apple hardware, privacy advocates believe that this would be compromising the privacy of the users in a same way the ID on Pentium 4 processors were blamed for the purpose. In the future, it is also feared that the company would be using this chip to restrict the use of some digital media by enforcing digital rights management technologies.

However, it is not confirmed if the company would indeed be using this chip in the final variants of the machines it deliver in the market next year. But… they have strictly made clear during the initial announcement that they would definitely not want Apple OS to run on non-Apple hardware though they would not be restricting non-Apple software to run on their shipped hardware.

The members of the ADC have rumored to have confirmed that they successfully managed to install Linux and Windows Applications on the machines delivered by Apple to them.