How much do you really TRUST Microsoft?

I've made no bones about the fact that I run Linux, and why: that I got fed up with having to get approval from Microsoft so that I could run Windows and my other MS software after I upgraded my computer more times than Microsoft thought reasonable.

Related to that is my belief that it's my computer, and I should be able to do pretty much any damn thing I want to with it -- and bear the responsibility for it, too.

I'll grant that I may be toward one extreme of the spectrum. On the other hand, there are those that simply don't/can't/won't think about what's happening on the 'opposite' side from where I am: that they are risking the very freedoms that I am adamant about keeping.

To those people, I'd like to suggest that you have a read of the following links regarding the "Trusted Computing" that several companies (most notably, but not limited to, Microsoft) tout:

• The 'Trusted Computing' FAQ
• A fairly nonpartisan explanation of 'Trusted Computing' on Wikipedia
• Richard Stallman's opinion of 'Trusted Computing'

While you're reading the above, keep in mind some of the news reports we've all heard the last few years (i.e. the Bush II presiduncey), and decide if you really want to put the kinds of trust we're talking about in the hands of people you don't really know...