Yeah, I wasn't trying to editorialize on this. I honestly didn't know about Pluton, so I just included a couple of links to newcomers like myself.
Indeed, Pluton could be beneficial, assuming you are on the side of fully trusting the Microsoft ecosystem front-to-back. Or scary if you don't trust the old 'Softy.
That being said, Apple's M1 architecture has a similar security chip installed as well. Some people legitimately want these walled gardens. We here at HN are probably more on the fringe side than the majority.
It's an eternal trade-off explored in much fiction. The Browncoats v Alliance in Firefly or the Rebel Alliance v the Empire in Star Wars, or the Vickies v anarchists in The Diamond Age, and many more. We want both the stability and humanity and safety of a cultured, controlled civilization, and the creative, exuberant culture that can be born out of periods of chaos. On a personal level, this implies we all want to live on the right side of the tracks, but have the option to party on the wrong side of the tracks.
I think the rebels have to do better, to wit, they (we?) have to work smarter to make software that's just as functional but with far less code, so that it can be audited by an actual human being. Software engineers take a blase attitude about dependency bloat, but that must change. We also need to be ready to run on open hardware when it is released. Last but not least, we need to invent a way for the best hackers and geeks to sift through the software we run, people we trust to find flaws and exploits and not use them. I, for one, would gladly pay for this service, and I think thousands of others would, too.
Indeed, Pluton could be beneficial, assuming you are on the side of fully trusting the Microsoft ecosystem front-to-back. Or scary if you don't trust the old 'Softy.
That being said, Apple's M1 architecture has a similar security chip installed as well. Some people legitimately want these walled gardens. We here at HN are probably more on the fringe side than the majority.