Intel On Demand Driver Ready To Activate Your Licensed CPU Features With Linux 6.2

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel On Demand Driver Ready To Activate Your Licensed CPU Features With Linux 6.2

What first entered the kernel as the "Software Defined Silicon" and now set to be marketed as Intel On Demand is ready to go with Linux 6.2 for this CPU license activation model appearing with upcoming Intel Xeon server processors...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-On-Demand-Linux-6.2

[r1348]

Imagine the fun when this gets cracked (because it will).

[CochainComplex]

Imagine the fun when this gets cracked (because it will).

...I fear Intel will implement a selfdistruction curcuit to break hardware on crack attempts.

[grigi]

Honestly this kind of thing should be illegal. Just as bad as subscription models for enabling heaters already in the seats of the car you bought.

[schmidtbag]

Honestly this kind of thing should be illegal. Just as bad as subscription models for enabling heaters already in the seats of the car you bought.

It's stupid but I think being illegal is unnecessary. Just speak with your wallet, which is pretty easy to do when it comes to something expensive like a car.
The thing I don't get is how Intel sees this as profitable. The price of the die is largely determined by its scarcity and the silicon. That's why Intel's prices go up almost exponentially compared to AMD once you get to 16+ cores. The research and production costs I presume are a flat rate. So, unless Intel is raising the minimum price per-chip (which is certainly not going to help sales), seems to me that this license activation model could severely cut into profit margins if people aren't buying the upgrades.

[CochainComplex]

Honestly this kind of thing should be illegal. Just as bad as subscription models for enabling heaters already in the seats of the car you bought.

and accelaration.... Mercedes

[werfu]

...I fear Intel will implement a selfdistruction curcuit to break hardware on crack attempts.

That may fly in american court, but Intel would totally get destroyed in a lot of other jurisdiction if proof is made that they included an self-destruct anti-tempering device that could be activated by a simple sequence of code. Imagine a virus spreading that triggers mass bricking of computers across the globe.

I think they know it will get cracked down the road, they'll simply change some of the activation sequence on each release to keep an edge, so they can rake-in the cash for the features in the 0-12 months purchase window. But it's still an overall bad marketing strategy.

[CochainComplex]

It's stupid but I think being illegal is unnecessary. Just speak with your wallet, which is pretty easy to do when it comes to something expensive like a car.
The thing I don't get is how Intel sees this as profitable. The price of the die is largely determined by its scarcity and the silicon. That's why Intel's prices go up almost exponentially compared to AMD once you get to 16+ cores. The research and production costs I presume are a flat rate. So, unless Intel is raising the minimum price per-chip (which is certainly not going to help sales), seems to me that this license activation model could severely cut into profit margins if people aren't buying the upgrades.

its getting profitable if you slowly add "musthaves" into this model peu a peu. Today its maybe vt-d - tomorrow avx512 - and then avx2.
Or everything is for free the first 6 month and then suddenly your PC is very slow until you figure out you have to subscribe to get your old performance back.

We kinda know all this tactics at the end we consumer will have to pay more on the longrun for the same set of features.
As we did with firstday dlc or seasonpass 1 seasonpass 2 ....whatsoever crap.

[CochainComplex]

That may fly in american court, but Intel would totally get destroyed in a lot of other jurisdiction if proof is made that they included an self-destruct anti-tempering device that could be activated by a simple sequence of code. Imagine a virus spreading that triggers mass bricking of computers across the globe.

I think they know it will get cracked down the road, they'll simply change some of the activation sequence on each release to keep an edge, so they can rake-in the cash for the features in the 0-12 months purchase window. But it's still an overall bad marketing strategy.

maybe my example was to extreme but loocking less crucial services forever or until Intel does a proper costly hardreset is quite imaginable. Hasn't there been some apple parts doing exactly this? Uncertified replacement part and firmware gets locked?

[baka0815]

I'm curious:

I understand how Intel thinks that's a good idea for their profits, but how does a consumer think that this is a great idea?
What is the promised benefit for customers?

I only see downsides...